462 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



he accepted the chair offered him at Cam- 

 bridge, there were neither collections nor lab- 

 oratories belonging to his department. The 

 specimens indispensable to his lectures were 

 gathered almost by the day, and his outfit, 

 with the exception of the illustrations he had 

 brought from Europe, consisted of a black- 

 board and a lecture - room. There was no 

 money for the necessary objects, and the 

 want of it had to be supplied by the pro- 

 fessor's own industry and resources. On the 

 banks of the Charles River, just where it is 

 crossed by Brighton Bridge, was an old wooden 

 shanty set on piles ; it might have served per- 

 haps, at some time, as a bathing or a boat 

 house. The use of this was allowed Agassiz 

 for the storing- of such collections as he had 



o 



brought together. Boards nailed against the 

 walls served for cases, and with a deal table 

 or two for dissection this rough shelter was 

 made to do duty as a kind of laboratory. 

 The fact is worth noting, for this was the be- 

 ginning of the Museum of Comparative Zool- 

 ogy in Cambridge, now admitted to a place 

 among the great institutions of its kind in 

 the world. 



In the summer of 1848 Agassiz organized 

 an expedition entirely after his own heart, in- 



