VARIETY OF RESEARCH. 337 



geographical distribution, in their embryonic 

 development. He reviews and remodels laws 

 of classification. Sometimes he illustrates the 

 fossil by the living world, sometimes he finds 

 the key to present phenomena in the remote 

 past. He reconstructs the history of the gla- 

 cial period, and points to its final chapter in 

 the nearest Alpine valleys, connecting these 

 facts again with like phenomena in distant 

 parts of the globe. But however wide his 

 range and however various his topics, under 

 his touch they are all akin, all coordinate 

 parts of a whole which he strives to under- 

 stand in its entirety. A few extracts from 

 his correspondence will show him in his dif- 

 ferent lines of research at this time. 



The following letter is from Edward Forbes, 

 one of the earliest explorers of the deep-sea 

 fauna. Agassiz had asked him for some help 

 in his work upon echinoderms. 



EDWARD FORBES TO LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



21 Lothian St., Edinburgh, February 13, 1841. 

 ... A letter from you was to me one of 

 the greatest of pleasures, and with great de- 

 light (though, I fear, imperfectly) I have exe- 

 cuted the commission you gave me. It should 

 have been done much sooner had not the 



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