SUBSCRIPTION FOR NEW WORK. 535 



the subscription list, to the astonishment of 

 the publishers, was increased daily by unsolic- 

 ited names, sent in from all sections of the 

 country, and from various grades of life and 

 occupation. In reference to the character of 

 this subscription Agassiz says in his Preface : 

 " I must beg my European readers to remem- 

 ber that this work is written in America, and 

 more especially for Americans ; and that the 

 community to which it is particularly addressed 

 has very different wants from those of the 

 reading public in Europe. There is not a class 

 of learned men here distinct from the other 

 cultivated members of the community. On the 

 contrary, so general is the desire for knowl- 

 edge, that I expect to see my book read by 

 operatives, by fishermen, by farmers, quite as 

 extensively as by the students in our colleges 

 or by the learned professions, and it is but 

 proper that I should endeavor to make myself 

 understood by all." If Agassiz, perhaps, over- 

 estimated in this statement the appreciation of 

 the reading public in the United States for 

 pure scientific research, it was because the 

 number and variety of his subscribers gave 

 evidence of a cordiality toward his work which 

 surprised as much as it gratified him. On the 

 list there were also some of his old European 



