326 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



restored from Remains contained in the Strata of 

 the Earth." 



The work was inscribed to Humboldt. " These 

 pages owe to you their existence ; accept their 

 dedication." It met everywhere the most favora- 

 ble reception. Elie de Beaumont wrote to Agas- 

 siz : " It promises a work as important for science 

 as it is remarkable in execution. Do not let your- 

 self be discouraged by obstacles of any kind ; they 

 will give way before the concert of approbation 

 which so excellent a work will awaken." 



Agassiz had become knoAvn to scholars through- 

 out Europe, as an indefatigable worker, but he was 

 still poor. Now and then there came a gleam of 

 sunshine into the straitened life. In 1834, he was 

 greatly surprised to receive from the London Geo- 

 logical Society, through Sir Charles Lyell, the 

 Wollaston prize, of about one hundred and fifty 

 dollars, conferred upon him for his work on fishes. 



He writes back to Lyell : " You cannot imagine 

 the joy your letter has given me. The prize 

 awarded me is at once so unexpected an honor and 

 so welcome an aid that I could hardly believe my 

 eyes when, with tears of relief and gratitude, I 

 read your letter. In the presence of a savant, I 

 need not be ashamed of my penury, since I have 

 spent the little I had wholly in scientific re- 

 searches. I do not, therefore, hesitate to confess 

 to you that at no time could your gift have given 

 me greater pleasure. Generous friends have helped 

 me to bring out the first number of my ' Fossil 



