academy of sciences. 253 



Regular Meeting, September 2d, 1872. 



President in the Chair. 



The rooms of the Academy were filled to their utmost capacity, 

 by members and friends ; the occasion being the presence of Prof. 

 Agassiz, i\Irs. Agassiz, Dr. Thomas Hill, Dr. F. Steindachner, 

 Capt. Johnson, and others connected with the Hassler expedition ; 

 also Prof. John Torrey, of New York, and Prof. D. C. Oilman, 

 President-elect of the University of California. 



The President introduced Professor Agassiz as follows : 

 Unless objection is made, we will dispense with the ordinary 

 proceedings of our regular meeting, particularly as many of us are 

 here for a special object, which should be gratified as early as pos- 

 sible. With a readiness and a kindness for which his name is a 

 synonym, our illustrious guest promptly accepted the invitation to 

 join us at our meeting this evening. He might well have pleaded 

 the need of rest and repose after such an arduous voyage, and es. 

 pecially after so prolonged a trip through the tropics. But, like a 

 true devotee of science, he accepted the invitation promptly, fore- 

 going all personal considerations of comfort. This Academy ex- 

 tends to him hearty congratulations and its heartfelt good wishes, 

 and is gratified that it is the first to greet him, after a voyage so 

 successful as to place American collections on a par, if not even 

 above, the finest collections of Europe. I have the pleasure of in- 

 troducing to the Academy, Professor Louis Agassiz. 



Prof. Agassiz, who was warmly applauded, addressed the Acad- 

 emy as follows : 



Mr. President and Gentlemen : — It -gives me very great pleasure to be 

 among you tliis evening, and I can assure you, that as long as I live I shall be 

 proud to have met such a reception at your hands as has been tendered to me 

 this evening. Twenty years ago, when your Academy was founded, I longed to 

 come across the continent, and perhaps to stimulate and encourage those who were 

 struggling in their efforts to organize a scientific body in a community which 

 was then entirely engaged in gathering gold. My reverence for the Academy 

 of Sciences of California has been growing since I have seen, in your published 

 proceedings, that in a city which is so entirely absorbed by business, you have 

 raised the standard of intellectual culture ; and as I have devoted my entire 

 Pkoc. Cal. Acad. Sci., Vol. IV.— 19. Januaky, 1873. 



