LETTER FROM SEDGWICK, 



687 



Agassiz to the veteran naturalist, Professor 

 Sedgwick, concerning casts of well-known 

 fossil specimens in Cambridge, England. 

 Though the casts were unattainable, the af- 

 fectionate reply gave Agassiz keen pleasure. 



FROM PROFESSOR ADAM SEDGWICK. 



The Close, Norwich, August 9, 1871. 

 My very dear and honored Friend, — 

 ... I of course showed your letter to my 

 friend Seeley, and after some consultation with 

 men of practical knowledge, it was considered 

 almost impossible to obtain such casts of the 

 reptilian bones as you mention. The speci- 

 mens of the bones are generally so rugged and 

 broken, that the artists would find it extremely 

 difficult to make casts from them without the 

 risk of damaging them, and the authorities of 

 the university, who are the proprietors of the 

 whole collection in my Museum, would be 

 unwilHng to encounter that risk. Mr. Seeley, 

 however, fully intends to send you a gutta- 

 percha cast of the cerebral cavity of one of 

 our important specimens described in "Seeley's 

 Catalogue," but he is full of engagements and 

 may not hitherto have realized his intentions. 

 As for myself, at present I can do nothing ex- 

 cept hobble daily on my stick from my house 



