OPPOSITION TO THE GLACIAL THEORY. 265 



turbed the cordial relation which existed be- 

 tween Von Buch and his young opponent. In- 

 deed, Agassiz's reverence and admiration for 

 Von Buch was then, and continued through- 

 out his life, deep and loyal. 



Not alone from the men who had made 

 these subjects their special study, did Agassiz 

 meet with discouragements. The letters of 

 his beloved mentor, Humboldt, in 1837, show 

 how much he regretted that any part of his 

 young friend's energy should be diverted 

 from zoology, to a field of investigation which 

 he then believed to be one of theory rather 

 than of precise demonstration. He was, per- 

 haps, partly influenced by the fact that he 

 saw through the prejudiced eyes of his friend 

 Von Buch. "Over your and Charpentier's 

 moraines," he says, in one of his letters, 

 " Leopold von Buch rages, as you may al- 

 ready know, considering the subject, as he 

 does, his exclusive property. But I too, 

 though by no means so bitterly opposed to 

 new views, and ready to believe that the 

 boulders have not all been moved by the same 

 means, am yet inclined to think the moraines 

 due to more local causes." 



The next letter shows that Humboldt was 

 seriously anxious lest this new field of activ- 



