34 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMHERST MEETING 



up the work exactly where he had left oft four years before, but with 

 greater energy, wider knowledge, and a breadth of observation not pre- 

 viously possible. The arrangement of the Carboniferous fossils was quite 

 to his liking, and a beginning was made on the fossil fishes. He now 

 brought to the Museum his own extensive collections, which Professor 

 Agassiz pronounced in his annual report as the "finest he had ever seen." 1 

 In the Museum report for 1873 Saint John gives an extended account of 

 the paleontological collections on which he worked. 



Memory of Saint John lingered long at Harvard. Professor Shaler in 

 particular delighted in telling jokes on him, and especially insisted that 

 Saint John's family pronounced its name as if it were spelled Sin-Jin, 

 proof positive that it was of Erin ancestry. Possibly the Shaler ian 

 brogue was not as perfect as it might have been, the Professor coming 

 from Kentucky. 



When, in the spring of 1865, Prof. Louis Agassiz planned his famous 

 Thayer Expedition to Brazil, he chose as one of six assistants Orestes 

 Saint John, who had been working with him for some time in the Mu- 

 seum of Comparative Zoology, at Cambridge. Agassiz, Saint John, and 

 Professor Hartt, of Cornell University, constituted the geological corps. 

 The voyage out was one of the most enjoyable imaginable. The Colorado, 

 a crack new ship of the Pacific Mail Steamer Company, was going from 

 New York around the Horn without passengers, and the vessel was placed 

 at the disposal of the Agassiz party so far as the latter's destination. 

 Agassiz lectured every day of the three weeks on topics relating to the 

 journey to be. The party sailed April 1, 1865. Mrs. Agassiz kept a 

 diary and the connected account is included in that delightful volume 

 entitled "Journey in Brazil." 



After exploring rather thoroughly the environs of Rio de Janeiro, 

 Hartt and Saint John spent two months studying the geology along the 

 then recently constructed Dom Pedro Segundo Railroad. Many fine 

 rock cuts and tunnels gave excellent sections, displaying the geological 

 structures. Saint John especially made very complete notes and maps. 

 The general features Professor Hartt incorporated in his "Geology and 

 Physical Geography of Brazil," which was published several years after- 

 ward. 



After the completion of the work along the railroad, Professor Agassiz 

 arranged an exploring party under charge of Saint John, which was to 

 cross Brazil northward from Rio de Janeiro to the mouth of the Amazon 

 River. This company left the capital on June i), 1865. It consisted of 

 Orestes Saint John, John A. Allen, Thomas Ward, and George Sceva. 

 The first two members mentioned were to travel together and reach the 



