60 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



into speculations based on false ideas, and 

 therefore of doubtful issue. Write me about 

 what you are reading and about your plans 

 and projects, for I can hardly believe that any 

 one could exist without forming them : I, at 

 least, could not. . . . 



The last line of this letter betrays the rest- 

 less spirit of adventure growing out of the 

 desire for larger fields of activity and re- 

 search. TranquiHzed for a while in the new 

 and more satisfying intellectual hf e of Munich, 

 it stirred afresh from time to time, not with- 

 out arousing anxiety in friends at home, as 

 we shall see. The letter to which the follow- 

 ing is an answer has not been found. 



FROM HIS MOTHER. 



Orbe, January 8, 1828. 



. . . Your letter reached me at Cudrefin, 

 where I have been passing ten days. With 

 what pleasure I received it, — and yet I read 

 it with a certain sadness too, for there was 

 something of ennui, I might say of discon- 

 tent, in the tone. . . . Believe me, my dear 

 Louis, your attitude is a wrong one ; you see 

 everything in shadow. Consider that you are 

 exactly in the position you have chosen for 



