LOUIS AGASSIZ. 333 



say that the educated Americans are very acces- 

 sible and very pleasant. They are obliging to the 

 utmost degree ; indeed, their cordiality toward 

 strangers exceeds any that I have met else- 

 where. . . . The liberality of the American nat- 

 uralists toward me is unparalleled. . . . The gov- 

 ernment (of the State of New York) has just 

 completed the publication of a work unique of 

 its kind, a natural history of the State in sixteen 

 volumes, quarto, with plates. Twenty-five hun- 

 dred copies have been printed, only five hundred 

 of which are for sale, the rest being distributed 

 throughout the State. Four volumes are devoted 

 to geology and mining alone ; the others, to zoology, 

 botany, and agriculture. Yes, twenty -five hundred 

 copies of a work in sixteen volumes, quarto, scat- 

 tered throughout the State of New York alone ! 



"When I think that I began my studies in nat- 

 ural history by copying hundreds of pages from a 

 Lamarck which some one had lent me, and that to- 

 day there is a state in which the smallest farmer 

 may have access to a costly work, worth a library 

 to him in itself, I bless the efforts of those who 

 devote themselves to public instruction." 



Agassiz was at once asked to give a second 

 course before the Lowell Institute, on glaciers. 

 This, like the first, was greatly enjoyed by the 

 two thousand or more persons present. Invita- 

 tions now came from other cities, but he said, "I 

 will limit myself to what I need in order to repay 

 those who have helped me through a difficult 



