648 LOUIS AGASSIZ, 



to Professor Benjamin Peirce, who was then 

 Superintendent of the Coast Survey, shows, 

 however, his unfailing interest in the bearing 

 of scientific researches on questions of public 

 utiHtj. 



TO PROFESSOR PEIRCE, SUPERINTENDENT OF THE COAST 

 SURVEY. 



Nahant, September 11, 1867. 



Dear Sir, — Far from considering your re- 

 quest a tax upon my time, it gives me the 

 greatest pleasure to have an opportunity of 

 laying before you some statements and reflec- 

 tions, which I trust may satisfy you that geol- 

 ogy and natural history can be made sub- 

 servient to the great interests of a civilized 

 community, to a far greater extent than is 

 generally admitted. 



The question of the harbor of Boston, for 

 instance, has a geological and zoological side, 

 thus far only indirectly considered. In order 

 to ascertain whence the materials are derived 

 which accumulate in the harbor, the shores 

 ought to be studied geologically with a kind 

 of accuracy and minuteness, never required by 

 geological surveys made for economical pur- 

 poses. The banks of the harbor, wherever it 

 is not rock-bound, consist of drift, which it- 



