WALCOTT. — ALEXANDER AGASSIZ. 43 



No native born citizen ever carried to Europe a more pronounced 

 spirit of personal independence than he did. His stories of experiences 

 with officials on the other side of the Atlantic were a source of much 

 entertainment for his friends. In the later years of his life his thoughts 

 turned more willingly to the other shores of the Atlantic, he had made 

 warm friends there, and he looked forward with much satisfaction 

 to the few weeks in Paris which generally were the end of his foreign 

 excursions for the winter. Here in the company of kindred spirits — 

 Associates in the Institute of France and others — he spent days of 

 real enjoyment, speaking the language which belonged to his father 

 if not to his mother and which never had become at all unfamiliar to 

 him. The theatres of the better sort attracted him and his distance 

 from the demands of his active life here left him free to indulge in his 

 always temperate pleasures. 



Notwithstanding the very serious illness of his early life his originally 

 slender but vigorous frame bore him safely through a life of more than 

 the usual exposures in the varied hardships of a mining camp and 

 journeys which were often perilous. He was spared the usual defects 

 of advancing years and carried to the end a clear head, unimpaired 

 senses and an active body. On Easter morning, March 27th, 1910, 

 on board the Steamer Adriatic in mid ocean he passed from sleep to 

 death without a struggle and the last great mystery was revealed to 

 him who had dealt with the immensities of time and space in all the 

 oceans of the globe. 



It was well known to some of Agassiz's friends that he had bestowed 

 much thought upon a plan for giving to this Academy a more satis- 

 factory house than any it had yet had. He had made provision 

 in his will for a bequest to the Academy which would have given 

 it a substantial aid in this direction. He, however, had promised 

 himself a more immediate gratification of this wish and on 16 October, 

 1909, wrote to President Trowbridge offering to erect upon the land 

 already owned by the Academy and the adjoining lot which he had re- 

 cently purchased a building which should become, to use his own words, 

 "a scientific and literary Club," while remaining the domicile of the 

 Academy. He had caused plans to be prepared by Mr. S. F. Page, 

 for a building to be erected on this spot — not merely a house for the 

 Academy but a home for its members, a place to which they would 

 gladly at all times come, to which they might bring their friends and 

 associates from other parts of the country or from foreign lands. It 

 was quite clear to those who were most familiar with his plans, that 

 the house was destined to have all the attractive features wdiich 



