138 LOUIS AGASSIZ. [CHAP. xix. 



Hannibal and St. Joseph line, notwithstanding the gar- 

 risons of United States troops stationed in and around 

 block-houses at several important points of the road, 

 and the day before I passed, the train had been fired at 

 and stopped by a party of guerillas. However, I arrived 

 safely, and embarked at St. Joseph to go up the Mis- 

 souri River. My exploration was very successful, and 

 I brought back to the Museum important collections of 

 fossils. Agassiz congratulated me on my return, saying 

 that he was not without some apprehension as to my 

 safety. 



Several other pupils of Agassiz, who came during 

 1862 and 1863, have since distinguished themselves in 

 natural history. I would mention William H. Ball, the 

 efficient curator of invertebrates at the United States 

 National Museum; William H. Niles, professor of geol- 

 ogy and geography at the Massachusetts Institute of 

 Technology ; Horace Mann, the explorer of the Sand- 

 wich Islands ; and the entomologist, P. R. Uhler. 



As I have said, the Civil War retarded the progress of 

 the Museum, for it was no time to ask for money when 

 all the resources of the country were required to carry 

 on the war. Still, in 1863 Agassiz obtained from the 

 Legislature of Massachusetts a grant of ten thousand 

 dollars for the publication of an illustrated catalogue of 

 the Museum --the best proof of his great popularity 

 among the inhabitants of Massachusetts. 



The want of money became so pressing in 1865, that 

 Agassiz bravely made a last effort to obtain it, by a 

 grand lecturing tour in the West. The Museum had 

 existed for only three years then, and to surmount the 



