98 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 



When Don Pedro of Brazil married an Austrian 

 princess, the Austrian and Bavarian governments 

 availed themselves of the opportunity of sending to 

 that country a scientific exploring expedition. The 

 naturalists who accompanied it were Martins, Spix, 

 Natterer, and Pohl. Agassiz, still a student, had 

 already published a few special papers. On the 

 return of the scientific corps Martius occupied himself 

 with the publication of his great work on Brazil. 

 The zoological portion was intrusted to Spix, but he 

 had not completed it at the time of his death. 

 Martius at once selected young Agassiz to elaborate 

 the ichthyological department, upon which very little 

 had been done, and the manner in which he accom- 

 plished the task placed him at once in the foremost 

 rank of naturalists. This work was published in 

 Latin at Munich in the year 1829, and was dedi- 

 cated to Cuvier. These studies and labours diverted 

 him from the profession of medicine, to which he 

 had been destined by his parents. The allowance he 

 had hitherto received from his father, on which, 

 moderate as it was, he had not only subsisted, but 

 had employed a distinguished young artist, Dinkel. 

 was now withdrawn. 



Agassiz now applied to Cotta the publisher, who 

 struck by the value of the materials the former 

 had collected for a " Natural History of the Fresh- 

 Water Fishes of Europe," and no doubt impressed 

 with the genius of the young naturalist, enabled him 

 by a timely supply of funds to complete the work. 

 This was his second great undertaking. 



