338 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



imagine the fatigue, the exhaustion of all the fac- 

 ulties, involved in such a method." He hoped to 

 found a museum where students should have speci- 

 mens for work, ready for their use. 



In the winter of 1855, Agassiz resumed his public 

 lectures, as his salary of fifteen hundred was insuffi- 

 cient to support his family, but when the spring 

 came he found himself exhausted by the extra 

 work. 



And now his noble wife thought out a plan to 

 aid him. She opened a school in their house, for 

 young ladies. Agassiz's surprise and pleasure knew 

 no bounds when he was informed of the project. 

 He immediately took charge of the classes in phys- 

 ical geography, natural history, and botany, giving 

 a lecture daily on one or other of these subjects. 

 The school, with sixty or seventy girls, was contin- 

 ued for eight years, Agassiz having the cooperation 

 of his brother-in-law, Professor Felton, the noted 

 Greek scholar, and other distinguished men. This 

 school was a blessing in more ways than one. All 

 these years, the debts incurred by the publication of 

 the " Fossil Fishes," and the glacial investigations, 

 had burdened him. The wonder was that the genial, 

 untiring worker could labor at all under this de- 

 pressing load. Noble devotees to science ! What 

 have they not suffered to advance the cause of 

 knowledge ! We sit by our pleasant firesides and 

 read what others have wrought for us, perhaps in 

 want and sorrow of soul, and we forget to be grate- 

 ful or to help lift burdens. 



