LOUIS AGASSIZ 49 



mother would forget for one moment that 

 this is the celebrated M. de Humboldt, 

 and find courage to write him only a few 

 lines, how grateful I should be to her ! I 

 think it would come better from her than 

 from papa, who would do it more cor- 

 rectly, no doubt, but perhaps not quite 

 as I should like. Humboldt is so good, so 

 indulgent, that you should not hesitate, 

 dear mother.' 7 . . . 



The other gift was of a different sort, 

 but of even greater generosity ; and it 

 was as thankfully and modestly re- 

 ceived. Cuvier had planned a work on 

 fishes in general, and had issued a circu- 

 lar asking for general help in collecting 

 his material. A year or two before, it 

 had been one of Agassiz's minor ambi- 

 tions to send so intelligently made a 

 collection of Swiss fishes as should 

 bring the contributor's name to Cuvier' s 

 notice. Now his hopes had gone fur- 

 ther, he had the ear of the master and 

 could ask advice for his own work. 



