EASTERN PACIFIC EXPEDITION 433 



during the last few days must have more than once 

 thought of such conditions as are pictured in the "An- 

 cient Mariner." 



On the way to San Diego all hands were busy putting 

 the collections in order and packing them for shipment ; 

 but though Agassiz and his assistants worked from 

 daylight till dark, the work was not half finished when 

 they reached port. Here the expedition disbanded, Dr. 

 Bigelow being left to superintend the packing and ship- 

 ping of the collections, and attend to the hundred and 

 one loose ends that are the necessary accompaniment 

 of so long an expedition. Part of the collections was 

 sent to Washington and part to Cambridge, whence they 

 were distributed for study to specialists in all parts of 

 the scientific world. The collections sent to Cambridge 

 filled half a freight car. 



In writing of Agassiz some years later, Professor 

 Kofoid says : " Throughout the whole Expedition, and 

 even more so as I now look back at it, I was impressed 

 by the fact that he viewed the whole in a large way; 

 although the whole was planned and executed with great 

 attention to the minutest details, it was nevertheless 

 carried out with certain larger ends definitely in view, 

 and these were never for an instant lost sight of amidst 

 the mass of detail that inevitably envelops such an enter- 

 prise. His work revealed a master mind, great in its com- 

 prehensive conception of the problems of the sea, and its 

 executive efficiency." 



One of Agassiz' s characteristic traits was the care with 

 which he planned for future engagements at the other 

 end of the earth, and the punctuality with which he met 

 them. An extract, written from the Galapagos to his son 

 in Santa Barbara, is a good illustration of this quality. 



