LOUIS AGASSIZ. 341 



Legion of Honor, and the Copley medal from 

 England. Twenty -seven years before, he had re- 

 ceived in Paris the aid of Humboldt in his destitu- 

 tion; now, two hemispheres competed for his 

 services. 



The following year, 1858, Mr. Francis C. Gray 

 died, leaving fifty thousand dollars for the estab- 

 lishment of a Museum of Comparative Zoology, to 

 be used neither for buildings nor for salaries, but 

 purely for scientific needs. 



"All things come round to him who will but 

 wait," says Longfellow, in the "Falcon of Sir 

 Federigo.'' Other gifts soon followed. Harvard 

 University gave land for the site of the building. 

 The Massachusetts Legislature gave lands to the 

 amount of one hundred thousand dollars. Over 

 seventy-one thousand was promptly subscribed by 

 citizens of Boston and Cambridge. Agassiz con- 

 tributed all his collections, worth thousands of dol- 

 lars. The corner-stone of the museum was laid 

 one sunny afternoon in June, 1859, and then the 

 happy Agassiz hastened across the ocean, to re- 

 joice with his mother, in her home near the foot of 

 the Jura. She was glad and proud now that he 

 had become a naturalist. 



The museum was dedicated November 13, 1860. 

 The plan included a main building 364 feet long, 

 with wings 205 long, the whole enclosing a hollow 

 square. The lecture rooms were at once opened. 

 Especially welcome were teachers of schools, for 

 whom admittance was free. His lectures were 



