JOURNEY IN MAINE. 623 



of which are the Katahdin Iron Works. Re- 

 turning to Bangor, he pursued, with the same 

 minute investigation, the glacial tracks and 

 erratic material from that place to the sea- 

 coast and to Mount Desert. The details of 

 this journey and its results are given in one 

 of the papers contained in the second volume 

 of his " Geological Sketches/ 3 In conclusion, 

 he says ; " I suppose these facts must be far 

 less expressive to the general observer than to 

 one who has seen this whole set of phenomena 

 in active operation. To me they have been 

 for many years so familiar in the Alpine val- 

 leys, and their aspect in those regions is so 

 identical with the facts above described, that 

 paradoxical as the statement may seem, the 

 presence of the ice is now an unimportant ele- 

 ment to me in the study of glacial phenom- 

 ena ; no more essential than is the flesh to the 

 anatomist who studies the skeleton of a fossil 

 animal." 



This journey in Maine, undertaken in the 

 most beautiful season of the American year, 

 when the autumn glow lined the forest roads 

 with red and gold, was a great refreshment 

 to Agassiz. He had been far from well, but 

 he returned to his winter's work invigorated 

 and with a new sense of hope and courage. 



