CHAPTER XV. 

 1852 



LECTURES BEFORE THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION AT WASHINGTON - 

 AGASSIZ'S INTIMACY WITH PROFESSOR HENRY AND PROFESSOR BACHE 

 -LIFE IN CAMBRIDGE His FIRST AMERICAN PUPILS AND ASSIST- 

 ANTS SERIOUS ILLNESS AT CHARLESTON LAST DAYS AT THE OX- 

 FORD STREET HOUSE REMOVAL OF ins HOUSEHOLD FROM OXFORD 

 TO QUINCY STREET AGASSIZ'S SCHOOL FOR GIRLS. 



AFTER leaving Charleston, Agassiz stopped at Wash- 

 ington, to deliver a course of lectures at the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, on the " Foundation of Symmetry in 

 the Animal Kingdom." He had already lectured once 

 before, at the Smithsonian, in 1850, on the "Unity of 

 the Plan of the Animal Kingdom." The great Institu- 

 tion, which has since done so much for American 

 science, and indeed for the whole world, was then in its 

 infancy, for it had begun its operations soon after 

 Agassiz's arrival in America, the " First Report" of the 

 secretary, Joseph Henry, being dated Dec. 8, 1847. 

 Professor Henry was much attracted by Agassiz's 

 immense store of scientific knowledge and his great 

 experience of European academies, scientific societies, 

 scientific journals, and personal acquaintance with all 

 the leaders, from George Cuvier, to Humboldt, Arago, 

 and Leverrier, --and quickly took advantage of his 



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