442 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



these projects to the possibilities of which 

 you kindly tell me. Notwithstanding the in- 

 terest offered by the exploration of a country 

 so rich as this, notwithstanding the gratify- 

 ing welcome I have received here, I feel, after 

 all, that nowhere can one work better than in 

 our old Europe, and the friendship you have 

 shown me is a more than sufficient motive, im- 

 pelling me to return as soon as possible to 

 Paris. Remember me to our common friends. 

 I have made some sufficiently interesting col- 

 lections which I shall forward to the Mu- 

 seum ; they will show you that I have done 

 my best to fulfill my promises, forgetting no 

 one. . . . 



In the summer of 1847 Agassiz established 

 himself in a small house at East Boston, suf- 

 ficiently near the sea to be a convenient 

 station for marine collections. Here certain 

 members of his old working corps assembled 

 about him, and it soon became, like every 

 place he had ever inhabited, a hive of indus- 

 try. Chief among his companions were Count 

 Francois de Pourtales, who had accompanied 

 him to this country ; Mr. E. Desor, who soon 

 followed him to America ; and Mr. Jaques 

 Burkhardt, who had preceded them all, and 



