514 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



shall see, neither the associations of his early 

 life nor the most tempting scientific prizes in 

 the gift of the old world could divert him 

 from this settled purpose. The proposition 

 from Zurich was not official, but came through 

 a friend and colleague, for whom he had the 

 deepest sympathy and admiration, Oswald 

 Heer. To work in his immediate neighbor- 

 hood would have been in itself a temptation. 



TO PROFESSOR OSWALD HEER. 



CAMBRIDGE, January 9, 1855. 



MY HONORED FRIEND, How shall I make 

 you understand why your kind letter, though 

 it reached me some months ago, has remained 

 till now unanswered. It concerns a decision of 

 vital importance to my whole life, and in such 

 a case one must not decide hastily, nor even 

 with too exclusive regard for one's own pref< 

 erence in the matter. You cannot doubt that 

 the thought of joining an institution of my 

 native country, and thus helping to stimulate 

 scientific progress in the land of my birth, my 

 home, and my early friends, appeals to all I 

 hold dear and honorable in life. On the othes 

 side I have now been eight years in America^ 

 have learned to understand the advantages of 

 my position here, and have begun undertak- 



