550 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



" His talents and industry made him a man of mark, to whom was 

 intrusted much work that required original thought. Especially did 

 he show interest in the problems of deep-sea soundings and the struc- 

 ture of the ocean-bottom, an interest that led to profound observations 

 on the physical geography of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf Stream. 

 His papers on this subject were of the first order, and established his 

 reputation in Europe as well as in America. 



" By the death of his father, he succeeded to the title, and received 

 a fortune which enabled him to devote himself wholly to his favorite 

 studies, and to do much in continuing the great work of Louis Agassiz. 

 Appointed keeper of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, he gave 

 himself, with untiring devotion, to carrying out the arrangement so 

 laboriously planned by his friend and master. Dividing the task with 

 the curator, Alexander Agassiz, he pushed forward his part of the 

 work with the easy power of a strong and highly-trained intellect. 

 Every day and all day at his post now pursuing special investiga- 

 tions, and now directing the details of the museum he was the model 

 of an administrative officer. 



" He had not an enemy, and could not have had one ; for, although 

 firm and persevering in temper, he possessed the gentleness of a child 

 and a woman's kindness. His modesty amounted almost to a fault ; 

 and people wondered why a man who was master of three languages 

 should talk so little. But with intimate friends he would speak 

 freely, and never without giving information and amusement. His 

 range of learning was very wide, and his command of it perfect ; nor 

 was it confined to mathematics, physics, and zoology. He did not 

 scorn novels and light poetry, and w^as knowing in family anecdotes 

 and local history. Indeed, it was a saying in the Museum that, if 

 Count Pourtales did not know a thing, it was useless to ask any one 

 else." 



Professor Alexander Agassiz writes to " Nature " as follows : " M. 

 Pourtales was the pioneer of deep-sea dredging in America, and he 

 lived long enough to see that these expeditions had paved the way 

 not only for similar English, French, and Scandinavian researches, but 

 had led in this country to the Hassler, and finally to the Blake Expe- 

 ditions, under the auspices of the Hon. Carlile P. Patterson, the pres- 

 ent Superintendent of our Coast Survey. On the Hassler Expedition 

 from Massachusetts through the Sti-aits of Magellan to California, he 

 had entire charge of the dredging operations ; owing to circumstances 

 beyond his control, the deep-sea explorations of that expedition were 

 not so successful as he anticipated, 



" The materials of the different deep-sea dredging expeditions above 

 mentioned had been chiefly deposited at the Museum in Cambridge, 

 and were thence distributed to specialists in this country and in Europe. 

 A large part of the special reports upon them have already appeared. 

 M, Pourtales reserved to himself the Corals, Halcyonarians, Holothu- 



