128 ALEXANDER AGASSIZ 



ters now but little, and I am ready for anything. I duly 

 received your two pamphlets, but have had no heart for 

 anything and am not in mood for appreciating anything 

 either, and will wait till I am more myself again. I have 

 just sent off to you Part III of the Echini and the 

 Plates of the whole. The work was finished just a few 

 days before father was taken ill, and of course has been 

 delayed since that time. Part IV is in hands of the 

 binders. Let me know what you have not of our publi- 

 cations in the University Library and I will complete 

 your set. I think I have sent your University some- 

 thing ? — but I cannot tell now, and the simplest way 

 is to ascertain directly from you. 



This letter gives an excellent insight of his attitude 

 toward the Museum. His own researches were always 

 the dearest of his intellectual children, and he never 

 would have persisted, in the face, as he thought, of the 

 indifference of the public and the lack of sympathetic 

 support from the University authorities, in devoting the 

 thought, time, and money which finally converted the 

 dream of his father into a solid reality, had he not been 

 impelled by a sense of duty and filial obligation. 



At the time of the death of Professor Agassiz, four 

 fifths of the north wing of the Museum had been com- 

 pleted. The original section of the building was crowded 

 to the utmost, and the Museum had an income of about 

 $10,000. Its prospects were not encouraging, and it was 

 feared that it might share the fate of the many enter- 

 prises that have perished with their founders. But Agas- 

 siz thought otherwise, and in a little over a year a 

 memorial fund of over $300,000 was collected. Of 

 this fund, $125,000 was given by Quincy A. Shaw, 



