362 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



ing far into the night, rarely leaving his 

 work till long after midnight. He was also 

 forced at this time to press forward his pub- 

 lications in the hope that he might have some 

 return for the sums he had expended upon 

 them. This was indeed a very anxious pe- 

 riod of his life. He could never be brought 

 to believe that purely intellectual aims were 

 not also financially sound, and his lithographic 

 establishment, his glacier work, and his costly 

 researches in zoology had proved far beyond 

 his means. The prophecies of his old friend 

 Humboldt were coming true. He was entan- 

 gled in obligations, and crushed under the 

 weight of his own undertakings. He began 

 to doubt the possibility of carrying out his 

 plan of a scientific journey to the United 

 States. 



AGASSIZ TO THE PRINCE OF CANINO. 



Neuchatel, April, 1843. 



... I have worked like a slave all winter 

 to finish my fossil fishes ; you will presently 

 receive my fifteenth and sixteenth numbers, 

 forwarded two days since, with more than 

 forty pages of text, containing many new ob- 

 servations. I shall allow myself no interrup- 

 tion until this work is finished, hoping there- 



