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 every where 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 known 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 thirty pounds, 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 



