ILLNESS AND CONVALESCENCE. 677 



He was destined, however, to a few more 

 years of activity, the reward, perhaps, of his 

 patient and persistent struggle for recovery. 

 After a winter of absolute seclusion, passed 

 in his sick chamber, he was allowed by his 

 physician, in the spring of 1870, to seek 

 change at the quiet village of Deerfield on 

 the Connecticut River. Nature proved the 

 best physician. Unable when he arrived to 

 take more than a few steps without vertigo, 

 he could, before many weeks were over, walk 

 several miles a day. Keen as an Egyptologist 

 for the hieroglyphics of his science, he was 

 soon deciphering the local inscriptions of the 

 glacial period, tracking the course of the ice 

 on slab and dike and river-bed, — on every 

 natural surface. The old music sang again 

 in his ear and wooed him back to life. 



In the mean time, his assistants and stu- 

 dents were doing all in their power to keep 

 the work of the Museum at high-water mark. 

 The publications, the classification and ar- 

 rangement of the more recent collections, the 

 distribution of such portions as were intended 

 for the public, the system of exchanges, went 

 on uninterruptedly. The working force at 

 the Museum was, indeed, now very strong. 

 In great degree it was, so to speak, home-bred. 



