108 LOUIS AGASSIZ 



existed in Agassiz' s mind began really 

 to take material shape. Mr. Francis C. 

 Gray, during Ms life a friend and helper 

 of Agassiz, left by will a sura of fifty 

 thousand dollars for a Museum of Com- 

 parative Zoology. It was just after 

 Agassiz' s refusal of the invitation to 

 Paris had roused public enthusiasm to its 

 highest. Harvard University offered to 

 give land for a site, the legislature voted 

 other lands equivalent to a yearly income 

 of several thousand dollars, private sub- 

 scriptions promptly raised seventy thou- 

 sand dollars for the cost of the building ; 

 architects asked to contribute their 

 work ; and Agassiz presented all the 

 collections he had amassed since the 

 former sale, a gift estimated at well 

 over ten thousand - dollars. In June, 

 1859, the corner-stone was laid ; and 

 one of the greatest comparative museums 

 of the world had fairly begun to be. 



With dramatic propriety, Agassiz took 

 the summer when his Museum was at 



