LOUIS AGASSIZ. 305 



business house of his uncle, Francois Mayor, at 

 Neuchatel. That his young mind turned longingly 

 towards a different future, may be seen from his 

 desires written at this time on a sheet of foolscap. 

 " I wish to advance in the sciences, and for that 

 I need D'Anville, Bitter, an Italian dictionary, a 

 Strabo in Greek, Mannert and Thiersch ; and also 

 the works of Malte-Brun and Seyfert. I have re- 

 solved, as far as I am allowed to do so, to become a 

 man of letters, and at present I can go no further : 

 first, 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 ; second, in modern geography also, I 

 have only such books as Mr. Rickly can lend me, 

 and the Osterwold geography, which does not ac- 

 cord with the new divisions ; I must have Ritter 

 or Malte-Brun ; third, for Greek I need a new 

 grammar, and I shall choose Thiersch; fourth, I 

 have no Italian dictionary, except one lent me by 

 Mr. Moltz ; I must have one ; fifth, for Latin I 

 need a larger grammar than the one I have, and I 

 should like Seyfert; sixth, 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 to stay at Bienne till the month of July, and 

 afterward serve my apprenticeship in commerce at 

 Neuchatel for a year and a half. Then I should 

 like to pass four years at a university in Germany, 



