432 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



Midnight, January 1st. A happy new year 

 to you and to all members of the Tuesday 

 Club. Bon jour et bon an. . . . 



Some portions of Agassiz's correspondence 

 with his European friends and colleagues dur- 

 ing the winter and summer of 1847 give a 

 clew to the occupations and interests of his 

 new life, and keep up the thread of the old 

 one. 



LOUIS AGASSIZ TO M. DECAISNE. 



February, 1847. 



... I write only to thank you for the 

 pleasure your note gave me. When one is 

 far away, as I am, from everything belong- 

 ing to one's past life, the merest sign of 

 friendly remembrance is a boon. Do not in- 

 fer from this that America does not please 

 me. On the contrary, I am delighted with 

 my stay here, although I do not quite under- 

 stand all that surrounds me ; or I should per- 

 haps rather say that many principles which, 

 theoretically, we have been wont to think per- 

 fect in themselves, seem in their application to 

 involve results quite contrary to our expecta- 

 tions. I am constantly asking myself which 

 is better, — our old Europe, where the man of 

 exceptional gifts can give himself absolutely 



