LOUIS AGASSIZ 145 



to pray in silence for a blessing on their 

 work together. Unvulgarised by repeti- 

 tion, such an impulse touched the more 

 repressed natures with whom he had to 

 do. "I would not have any man to 

 pray for me now," he said j and many 

 must have remembered the words, when 

 a few months later, his students bore his 

 coffin into the chapel of Harvard College. 



On coming back from Penikese, Agas- 

 siz tried to do his work as usual. For 

 some time his strength held out. All 

 through October and November he was 

 busy at the Museum, and was as always 

 planning, writing, and lecturing. But 

 his last appearance as a lecturer came on 

 December 2, and the rest we give in Mrs. 

 Agassiz's own words : 



" Those who accompanied him, and 

 knew the mental and physical depression 

 which had hung about him for weeks, 

 could not see him take his place on the 

 platform without anxiety. And yet, 

 when he turned to the blackboard, and 



