332 LOriS A-GASSTZ. 



successful course of lectures before the Lowell 

 Institute, Boston, arranged a similar course with 

 Mr. Lowell for his friend Agassiz. Perhaps money 

 has ne^er been given more wisely in America 

 than by the refined John Lowell, Jr., of Boston, 

 who, dying in a foreign country at thirty-seven, 

 bereft of wife and children, left a quarter of a 

 million dollars to " provide for regular courses of 

 free public lectures upon the most important 

 branches of natural and moral science, to be an- 

 nually delivered in the city of Boston." None of 

 the bequest could be used for buildings, and ten 

 per centi of the accumulation of the fund was to be 

 set aside annually to continue it. Since December 

 1, 1839, from six to ten courses have been given 

 yearly to large audiences, by some of the most dis- 

 tinguished persons in Europe and America. 



" Natural and moral science ! " How broad the 

 subject, and how incalculable the benefit to any 

 city, great or small ! What a means for the best 

 general education ; what an uplifting of the whole 

 mental and social life of a community ! 



Agassiz came to Boston and gave twelve lectures 

 on the "Plan of the Creation, especially in the 

 Animal Kingdom." His speech had a foreign 

 accent; but his enthusiastic love of his subject, his 

 skill in drawing on the blackboard, and his eloquent 

 but simple language soon won all hearts. 



He was as pleased with the Americans as they 

 were with him. He wrote to his beloved mother 

 (his father had died ten years before) : " I can only 



