LIKNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. xly 



in Cambridge (U. S.) ou a level with tlie first institutions of the 

 kind. But for this a working force would be needed ; and I saw 

 no possibility of providing for such an undertaking." Whilst he 

 was still considering where to apply for aid in this emergency, Mr. 

 Nathaniel Thayer, unasked, offered to pay all the expenses, personal 

 and scientific, of six assistants. Agassiz accepted this munificent 

 ofier ; and it may be remarked in passing that, subsequently, Mr. 

 Thayer did much more than he had promised, continuing to meet 

 all the expenses which were incurred until the last specimen was 

 stored in the Cambridge Museum. The assistants who sailed with 

 Agassiz were : — Mr. James Burkhardt, the artist ; Mr. John G-. 

 Anthony, conchologist ; Mr. Frederick C. Hartt and Mr. Orestes 

 St. John, geologists ; Mr. John A. Allen, ornithologist ; and Mr. 

 G-eorge Sceva, the preparer of specimens. 



The results of this well-known expedition will be in the recol- 

 lection of most naturalists. They are described by Agassiz and 

 his wife in the work entitled ' A Journey in Brazil.' Agassiz justly 

 remarked that they served to show " that their year, full as it was 

 of enjoyment for all the party, was also rich in permanent results 

 for science." After this voyage Agassiz devoted a large share of 

 his time to the examination of the immense Brazilian collections 

 stored in the Museum at Cambridge. Before long, however, his 

 health, which had at no time been robust, began to show signs of 

 failing again, and the work of examination proceeded more slowly 

 than he had hoped and anticipated. His scientific activity, how- 

 ever, was not over. He took a part in the great controversies of 

 the day, gave a series of lectures in New York on the geology of 

 the American continent, and in the autumn of 1871 joined an 

 exploring-expedition to the South Atlantic and Pacific shores of 

 the continent. A careful exploration was made of the celebrated 

 Sargasso sea, and a nest-building fish was discovered in that vast 

 bed of oceanic vegetation ; and other important contributions 

 were made to natural science. Agassiz received fewer distinctions 

 from European Societies and Universities than many less distin- 

 guished men of science. The Academy of Sciences at Paris 

 awarded him their prize, however, and ofiered him a scientific 

 professorship (which circumstances induced him to decline), and 

 he also received the Cross of the Legion of Honour. His natural 

 simplicity of character made him very generally beloved ; and in 

 our own Society his name will always be remembered as one of 

 the most distinguished of our Foreign Members. He died early 



