220 ALEXANDER AGASSIZ 



However, he felt that it was out of the question to 

 consider the offer, for he thought the post should be 

 filled by a professional mathematician or physicist ; the 

 necessity of leaving every winter for his health was also 

 an objection, to say nothing of the interests which held 

 him at Cambridge, and the sacrifice of his own scientific 

 work that such a position would involve. 



TO E. L. GODKIN 1 



Newport, Sept. 30, 1885. 



Your dispatch came duly to hand and I hope the 

 reply reached you. I am sorely tempted to give up every- 

 thing and go to Washington, for to become the chief 

 scientific adviser of the Government and be able to 

 influence legislation as far as can be done, on behalf 

 of science, is a thing of which any man might well be 

 proud, and not lightly to be declined. Were I five years 

 older I would not hesitate a moment. But I am afraid 

 of taking hold of a new thing on account of my health. 

 I am just getting out of the woods and my private in- 

 terests, on which my scientific future depends, are in 

 such a condition that I could not in justice to others 

 leave their management at present in untried hands, so 

 I had to decline. 



Still there is the other side. I fear I should be much 

 like a bull in a china shop ; what with red tape, and 

 etiquette, the Superintendent to be, who is somewhat of 

 an autocrat, might have a hard time. It has been most 

 gratifying to see how unanimously my scientific col- 

 leagues and friends, as well as the public, have approved 

 the choice of the President, and the manner in which 

 it was offered to me by him through the Secretary of 



1 Editor of the Nation, 



