40 LOUIS AGASSIZ. [CHAP. xiv. 



the spring of 1852. It was only a temporary museum 

 a rather dangerous wooden structure for the storage 

 of specimens kept in alcohol. The University voted a 

 sum of four hundred dollars annually for the preserva- 

 tion of the collections ; and some friends started a sub- 

 scription of twelve thousand dollars to purchase them 

 for the Lawrence Scientific School, as the expense 

 incurred by Agassiz was too great to be borne by a 

 man without a private fortune. 



On a beautiful September afternoon of 1851, when 

 crossing that college yard now occupied by Memorial 

 Hall, I was stopped by a gentleman in full dress, - 

 frock coat and black pantaloons of an old pattern, and 

 too short by six inches, showing the upper part of his 

 boots, -- who asked me, in broken English, to direct him 

 to M. Agassiz's house. " I am going there myself," I 

 answered in French. " Oh ! vous etes francais ; je 1'ai 

 pense en voyant votre barbiche et moustache, car depuis 

 mon arrivee a Boston, je n'ai vu personne que vous et 

 moi avec des moustaches." We walked along leisurely, 

 and I thought from his conversation that he was a 

 countryman from the Canton de Vaud-- perhaps a rich 

 Swiss farmer. Agassiz was at home, and, on seeing my 

 companion, exclaimed : " Oh ! M. Ampere ! " In fact, it 

 was no less a person than the son of the great electri- 

 cian and physicist, Andre" M. Ampere, himself a very 

 remarkable scholar and savant in his way, and dis- 

 tinguished in literature, and the last admirer and lover 

 of the beautiful Madame Rccamier. His visit pleased 

 Agassiz much, showing as it did that he was not lor- 



