CHAPTER XVn. 



1852-1855: jet. 45-48. 



Return to Cambridge. — Anxiety about Collections. — Pur- 

 chase of Collections. — Second Winter in Charleston. — 

 Illness. — Letter to James D. Dana concerning Geograph- 

 ical Distribution and Geological Succession of Animals. — 

 Resignation of Charleston Professorship. — Propositions 

 from Zurich. — Letter to Oswald Heer. — Decision to re- 

 main in Cambridge. — Letters to James D. Dana, S. S. 

 Haldeman, and Others respecting Collections illustrative 

 of the Distribution of Fishes, Shells, etc., in Our Rivers. 

 — Establishment of Schools for Girls. 



Agassiz returned from Charleston to Cam- 

 bridge in the early spring, pausing in Wash- 

 ington to deliver a course of lectures before 

 the Smithsonian Institution. By this time he 

 had become intimate with Professor Henry, 

 at whose hospitable house he and his family 

 were staying during their visit at Washing- 

 ton. He had the warmest sympathy not only 

 with Professor Henry's scientific work and 

 character, but also with his views regarding 

 the Smithsonian Institution, of which he had 

 become the Superintendent shortly after Agas- 

 siz arrived in this country. Agassiz himself 

 was soon appointed one of the Regents of the 



