CHARLESTON 41 
sweet, out-of-door fragrance made one forget, spite of the 
wood fire on the hearth, that it was winter by the calendar. 
The days, passed almost wholly in the woods or on the 
verandah, closed with evenings spent not infrequently in 
discussions upon the scientific ideas and theories of the 
day, carried often beyond the region of demonstrated facts 
into that of speculative thought.” 
The few characteristic letters which follow were written 
during these winters at Charleston and on the journey 
home in 1852 when Agassiz went to Washington to deliver 
a course of lectures at the Smithsonian Institution. 
TO MRS. THOMAS G. CARY 
Charleston, December 22, 1851 
WE have just returned from a visit at Sullivan’s Is- 
land, where I have left Agassiz very busy and happy 
with some exceedingly thin, scrawly looking monsters 
with no bodies, and amazingly long legs, which af- 
forded him immense satisfaction. He had intended 
returning to town with me, till these emaciated gen- 
tlemen were brought in from the beach, and of course 
against such attractions I had nothing to plead. We 
passed, however, a very charming day there, with 
reading, gathering shells, sketching a monster, hunt- 
ing, according to the different tastes of the company. 
The town is as empty as Boston in the middle of 
August — everybody gone to the plantation for the 
Christmas festivities, and we expect to leave tomor- 
row or the next day for Belmont, where we shall pass 
the week. During Christmas the town is absolutely 
given up to the blacks, and if any of the white pop- 
