420 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



is leisure. I have never felt more forcibly 

 what I owe to the king for enabling me to 

 live for science alone, undisturbed by anxie- 

 ties and distractions. Here, I do not lose a 

 moment, and when I receive invitations out- 

 side the circle of men whom I care particu- 

 larly to know, I decline, on the ground that I 

 am not free to dispose for my pleasure of 

 time which does not belong to me. For this 

 no one can quarrel with me, and so far as I 

 myself am concerned, it is much better. 



I stopped at Baltimore only long enough to 

 see the city. It was Sunday, and as I could 

 make no visits, and was anxious to arrive in 

 good time at Washington, I took advantage 

 of the first train. The capital of the United 

 States is laid out upon a gigantic scale, and, 

 consequently, portions of the different quar- 

 ters are often to be traced only by isolated 

 houses here and there, — a condition which 

 has caused it to be called the " City of Mag- 

 nificent Distances." Some of the streets are 

 very handsome, and the capitol itself is really 

 imposing. Their profound veneration for the 

 founder of their liberty and their republic is 

 a noble trait of the American people. The 

 evidences of this are to be seen everywhere. 

 No less than two hundred towns, villages, and 



