12 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



books, tells something of his progress and 

 his aspirations at fourteen years of age. " I 

 wish," so it runs, " to advance in the sciences, 

 and for that I need d'Anville, Ritter, an Ital- 

 ian dictionary, a Strabo in Greek, Mannert 

 and Thiersch ; and also the works of Malte- 

 Brun and Seyfert. I have resolved, as far as 

 I am allowed to do so, to become a man of 

 letters, and at present I can go no further : 

 1st, in ancient geography, for I already know 

 all my note -books, and I have only such 

 books as Mr. Rickly can lend me ; I must 

 have d'Anville or Mannert ; 2d, in modern 

 geography, also, I have only such books as 

 Mr. Rickly can lend me, and the Osterwald 

 geography, which does not accord with the 

 new divisions ; I must have Ritter or Malte- 

 Brun ; 3d, for Greek I need a new gram- 

 mar, and I shall choose Thiersch ; 4th, I have 

 no Italian dictionary, except one lent me by 

 Mr. Moltz ; I must have one ; 5th, for Latin 

 I need a larger grammar than the one I 

 have, and I should like Seyfert ; 6th, Mr. 

 Rickly tells me that as I have a taste for 

 geography he will give me a lesson in Greek 

 (gratis), in which we would translate Strabo, 

 provided I can find one. For all this I ought 

 to have about twelve louis. I should like 



