142 LOUIS AGASSIZ. [CHAP. xix. 



this perfectly well, and one day, in a mood of confi- 

 dence with me (after his forty-fifth year Agassiz, until 

 that time extremely frank, saying even more than was 

 prudent, became rather reserved and reticent), ad- 

 mitted the fact that the title was not very appropriate. 

 " I did not want the name of any patron or benefactor 

 given to it," he said ; " Mr. Peabody, the generous 

 American banker of London, has informed me that 

 he will endow the Museum with a large sum of money, 

 but on the condition that it shall bear his name ; that 

 I cannot accede to." " Of course," said I, looking 

 him full in the eyes, " it will be Agassis s JHuscuvi." 

 "Yes," he answered feebly, "you have ferreted my 

 secret." 



To repeat this now is not to betray my illustrious 

 friend. Every one, savant or illiterate, native or for- 

 eigner, calls it " Agassiz's Museum," notwithstanding 

 the great sign, " Museum of Comparative Zoology," 

 sculptured in big letters over the gate. It is simple 

 justice, and the reward conferred by universal consent 

 on the man of genius who created it, from nothing, 

 with his brain and invincible will. After all, men are 

 not ungrateful, even in a republic. 



His summer at Nahant not having given the relief 

 that he expected, as a means to restore his health and 

 get more strength for the next year's work at the 

 University, he made, during the whole of September, 

 1864, an extended excursion into Maine, looking for 

 glacial remains. He extended his researches for mo- 

 raines and ocsars now called drumlins from Hangor 

 and Katahdin to Mount Desert, and carefully studied 



