LETTER TO ELIE DE BEAUMONT 445 



sions in all the neighboring country, from 

 which they returned laden with specimens, — 

 plants, birds, etc. In this hospitable home 

 he passed his fortieth birthday, the first in 

 this country. His host found him standing 

 thoughtful and abstracted by the window. 

 "Why so sad? " he asked. " That I am so 

 old, and have done so little," was the answer. 

 After some weeks he was able to return to his 

 work, and the next letter gives some idea of 

 his observations in the immediate vicinity of 

 Boston, and especially in East Boston, where 

 he was then living. 



TO ELIE DE BEAUMONT. 



Boston, August 31, 1847. 



... I have waited to write until I should 

 have some facts sufficiently important to 

 claim your attention. In truth, the study 

 of the marine animals, which I am, for the 

 first time, able to observe in their natural 

 conditions of existence, has engrossed me al- 

 most exclusively since I came to the United 

 States, and only incidentally, as it were, I 

 have turned my attention to paleontology and 

 geology. I must, however, except the glacial 

 phenomena, a problem, the solution of which 

 always interests me deeply. This great ques- 



