400 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



last words of farewell which reached him 

 just as he was leaving the Old World, little 

 thinking then that he was to make a perma- 

 nent home in America, were these Hnes from 

 Humboldt, written at Sans Souci ; " Be 

 happy in this new undertaking, and preserve 

 for me the first place under the head of 

 friendship in your heart. When you return 

 I shall be here no more, but the king and 

 queen will receive you on this ' historic hill ' 

 with the affection which, for so many reasons, 

 you merit. . . . 



" Your illegible but much attached friend, 



" A. Humboldt." 



So closed this period of Agassiz's life. 

 The next was to open in new scenes, under 

 wholly different conditions. He sailed for 

 America in September, 1846. 



