52 LOUIS AGASSIZ. [CHAI-. xv. 



son, an extremely bright young Cambridge student, 

 with no small amount of originality. Stimpson took at 

 once to dredging along the sea-bottom, in order to 

 investigate and determine provinces of marine life, 

 more especially of the Mollusca. He was strongly 

 impressed by Edward Forbes's researches in that line, 

 and followed in his steps, not only on the shores of the 

 British Isles, but on the coasts of Maine, Massachu- 

 setts, Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Florida, 

 adding greatly to that branch of natural history. After 

 leaving Professor Agassiz's laboratory in 1855, Stimpson 

 was attached to the Smithsonian Institution at Wash- 

 ington, and did much, in collaboration with Dr. Charles 



O 



Girard, to create the collection of living marine inver- 

 tebrates of the United States National Museum. Hav- 

 ing agreed to found and direct a museum of natural 

 history at Chicago, he had the misfortune to see all 

 his manuscripts and collections destroyed by the great 

 Chicago fire of October, 1871. Although Stimpson died 

 young, he left an imperishable name in conchology. 



H. James Clark, also a graduate like Stimpson of the 

 Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard University, was 

 the favourite pupil of Agassi/ ; his investigation of the 

 embryology of turtles, and his microscopic illustrations 

 of all the researches of Agassiz, contained in his " Con- 

 tributions to the Natural History of the United States 

 of America," show a rare amount of patience, and great 

 accuracy as an original observer. Clark possessed a 

 quality which was much admired by Agassiz ; namely, 

 steadiness in work. He was indefatigable at the micro- 

 scope, day after day, month after month, year after 



