I 



mEDGING EXPEDITION. 671 



wonderful and beautiful religious edifices; 

 but it is my bope to see, witb tbe progress of 

 intellectual culture, a structure arise among 

 us wbich may be a temple of tbe revelations 

 written in tbe material universe. If tbis be 

 so, our buildings for sucb an object can never 

 be too comprebensive, for tbey are to embrace 

 tbe infinite work of Infinite Wisdom. Tbey 

 can never be too costly, so far as cost secures 

 permanence and solidity, for tbey are to con- 

 tain tbe most instructive documents of Om- 

 nipotence." 



Agassiz gave tbe winter of 1869 to iden- 

 tifying, classifying, and distributing tbe new 

 collections. A few weeks in tbe spring were, 

 bowever, passed witb bis friend Count de 

 Pourtales in a dredging expedition on board 

 tbe Coast Survey Steamer Bibb, off tbe coast 

 of Cuba, on tbe Babama Banks, and among 

 tbe reefs of Florida. Tbis dredging excur- 

 sion, tbougb it covered a wider ground tban 

 any previous one, was tbe tbird deep-sea ex- 

 ploration undertaken by M. de Pourtales un- 

 der tbe auspices of tbe Coast Survey. His 

 investigations may truly be said to bave exer- 

 cised a powerful influence upon tbis line of 

 researcb, and to bave led tbe way to tbe more 

 extended work of tbe same kind carried on 



