58 ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ 
seum, when Mrs. Agassiz, as gracious and inexhaust- 
ible as her husband, would glide about among the 
members and where two were studying out the scien- 
tific drawings in utter hopelessness, would glide up be- 
hind them and say sweetly, “Oh, I think I am lucky 
to be able to explain that one drawing, for I happened 
to be near by when the Professor was explaining it 
yesterday. I think it represents, etc.,” till both the 
inquirers felt forever armed with knowledge espe- 
cially when supplied from the lips of a lovely woman. 
It is no wonder that Agassiz once said with deep emotion 
to his friend, Professor Burt G. Wilder of Cornell Univer- 
sity, ‘Without her I could not exist.” 
Immediately after the corner stone of the Museum was 
laid, in June, 1859, Agassiz sailed with Mrs. Agassiz and his 
younger daughter for a few weeks in Europe, where they 
made brief visits in Ireland and England upon his scientific 
friends, the Earl of Enniskillen and Sir Philip Egerton, 
and at Herbesthal in Rhenish Prussia upon Maximilian 
Braun, the brother of Cecile Braun, the first wife of 
Agassiz. The tie that connected Agassiz with her family 
had been created even before his marriage by his friend- 
ship with her brother Alexander (later Director of the 
Botanical Gardens in Berlin), which began in their stu- 
dent days at Heidelberg, led to his meeting with Cecile, 
and notwithstanding separation knew no diminution to 
the end of Agassiz’s life. It is significant of Mrs. Agassiz’s 
charm and her power of sympathy that during her stay 
at Herbesthal the brothers and sister of Cecile Agassiz 
formed an attachment for her that marked the beginning of 
a rare and lasting relationship. For long years she regu- 
