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tions as to matters relating to anatomical preparations, drawings, 

 classification and geographical distribution the letter concludes : 

 ''See also that William [the errand boy] is busy and does not loaf 

 about. I have directed him to make skeletons of cats, rats and 

 mice, many of each kind." 



His working habits were simple in the extreme. His private 

 room was rarely occupied. The specimens and books he wished 

 to examine were usually on a plain table in the common room, 

 and in the few hours he could snatch from overwhelming adminis- 

 trative duties, he never seemed so happy as when, resting a foot 

 upon the stool which at other times served him in place of a chair, 

 he held in one hand some Brazilian fish and with the other turned 

 the pages or plates from which to determine questions of identity, 

 affinity or distribution. While thus engaged he sometimes 

 whistled very softly a little air the source of which I have never 

 ascertained. 



Besides his writings and his museum, which are at once his 

 monument and his legacy, we of to-day are materially benefitted 

 by Agassiz' personal influence upon the sentiment of the commu- 

 nity. Thirty years ago the following is said to have occurred : A 

 summer party of Harvard professors were driven through the 

 White Mountains. As the coach slowly ascended a hill, Agassiz 

 and others would leave it and presently return laden with stones 

 and wild flowers, or ornamented with beetles and butterflies pinned 

 to their hats and the lappels of their coats. Professor Felton sat 

 alone in the coach perusing a favorite Greek author. "Who are 

 those fellows," at last asked the coachman, in whose eyes plants 

 were interesting merely as food for his animals, minerals as likely 

 to impede progress, and insects as apt to interfere with personal 

 comfort. "They are a party of naturalists" said Felton. "Ah !" 

 replied he, "that accounts for it, poor fellows." A few days later 

 he drove another party, to whom he confided his experience as 

 follows :. "Last Thursday I had the queerest lot of passengers you 

 ever saw ; they were men grown and dressed like gentlemen ; but 

 they kept jumping out of the coach, and like little children ran 

 about the field chasing butterflies and bugs, which they stuck all 

 over their clothes. Their keeper told me they was naturals ; and 



