INVITATION DECLINED. 553 



ica from the moment of his arrival. "Agas- 

 siz's large and beautiful work (the first two 

 volumes) reached me a few days since. It will 

 produce a great effect both by the breadth of 

 its general views and by the extreme sagacity 

 of its special embryological observations. I 

 have never believed that this illustrious man, 

 who is also a man of warm heart, a noble 

 soul, would accept the generous offers made to 

 him from Paris. I knew that gratitude would 

 keep him in the new country, where he finds 

 such an immense territory to explore, and such 

 liberal aid in his work." 



In writing of this offer to a friend Agassiz 

 himself says : " On one side, my cottage at 

 Nahant by the sea-shore, the reef of Florida, 

 the vessels of the Coast Survey at my com- 

 mand from Nova Scotia to Mexico, and, if I 

 choose, all along the coast of the Pacific, 

 and on the other, the Jardin des Plantes, with 

 all its accumulated treasures. Rightly con- 

 sidered, the chance of studying nature must 

 prevail over the attractions of the (Paris) Mu- 

 seum. I hope I shall be wise enough not to 

 be tempted even by the prospect of a new edi- 

 tion of the * Poissons Fossiles.' ' 



To his old friend Charles Martins, the nat- 

 uralist, he writes : " The work I have under- 



