782 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



Agriculture at Fitchburg, where he lectured 

 in the evening on " The structural growth of 

 domesticated animals." Those who accom- 

 panied him, and knew the mental and phys- 

 ical depression which had hung about him for 

 weeks, could not see him take his place on the 

 platform, without anxiety. And yet, when he 

 turned to the blackboard, and, with a single 

 sweep of the chalk, drew the faultless outline 

 of an egg, it seemed impossible that anything 

 could be amiss with the hand or the brain 

 that were so steady and so clear. 



The end, nevertheless, was very near. Al- 

 though he dined with friends the next day, 

 and was present at a family festival that week, 

 he spoke of a dimness of sight, and of feeling 

 " strangely asleep." On the 6th he returned 

 early from the Museum, complaining of great 

 weariness, and from that time he never left 

 his room. Attended in his illness by his 

 friends, Dr. Brown-Sequard and Dr. Morrill 

 Wyman, and surrounded by his family, the 

 closing week of his life was undisturbed by 

 acute suffering and full of domestic happiness. 

 Even the voices of his brother and sisters 

 were not wholly silent, for the wires that 

 thrill with so many human interests brought 

 their message of greeting and farewell across 



