268 SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 
pleasant. I should like to have a satisfactory explanation of this 
phenomenon. There is no doubt but that the cool nights contribute 
to the healthfulness of the country. Fou Cole 
From Louis Agassiz to Spencer F. Baird. 
CAMBRIDGE, 4th August, 1851. 
My DEAR FRIEND, 
How very difficult it is to do right, or at least what you think 
to be right even with the firm determination to doit. I am struggling 
with the desire of being punctual in my correspondence with my 
friends and all I can do is from time to time to send them a few lines. 
What you have written to me respecting your activity in the Smith- 
sonian Institution has greatly interested me, and I have no doubt 
you will do a great deal of good in that way. I thank you very much 
for your specimens, which arrived safely last week. Pray do not 
forget to bring on the Leuciscus Pygmaeus of DeKay, for it is one of 
the very things I have been longing for and which I have failed 
hithertofore to obtain. I shall not leave Cambridge before the 
meeting. I intend returning home immediately after; will you not 
come back with me and take a good share of the long-promised 
specimens from Florida and other places with you. My sister-in-law 
who has just returned from a long visit at the Lee’s on Lake Cham- 
plain and often seen your friends there, wants me to insist of your 
coming at that time, as she intends making us then a visit and would 
be glad to have one who knows all those people to recall pleasant 
recollections. 
I am working very hard at the Exploring Expedition fishes, 
and allow my papers to suffer under it, as I must make my living 
first; but I am progressing to my satisfaction notwithstanding. I 
hope to have the corals at least ready for the press by the beginning 
of Sept. I have just revised my report upon the coral reefs. I 
trust it will be an acceptable contribution to our knowledge of that 
subject. I have received some time ago the slip of my paper read in 
Cincinnati, it was all right. I have a long letter to write to Prof. 
Henry before Albany, and can find no time for it. My kindest 
regards to Mrs. Baird. Woden 
> 
L. AGassiz: 
