Waterston.] 228 [January 7, 



In a note dated July 21st, lie says, 



" I have been completely prostrated this week." 



Yet notwithstanding this exhaustion (doubtless far beyond 

 what was imagined by his most intimate friends, and, added 

 to this, serious illness among the members of his own family, 

 his son leaving for Europe, on account of his health, the 

 very day upon which the address was delivered), Professor 

 Agassiz most conscientiously devoted himself through the 

 sultriness of an intensely hot mid-summer, to the work of 

 preparation. Few are probably aware what a mind like his 

 would, under such circumstances, consider requisite. Noth- 

 ing was to be taken for granted ; not even the memory of 

 former investigations would be accepted without passing 

 through the process of examination. Every step was to be 

 measured, with critical exactness, through the long progress 

 of Humboldt's scientific career. 



Is there not exemplified in this fact, one of the marked 

 characteristics of Prof. Agassiz's mind ? Absolute thorough- 

 ness ; sifting every question and principle down to its first 

 elements; tracing every thought, from its earliest germ 

 through each successive development, until the final result is 

 reached. 



In order to secure freedom from all interruption during 

 these researches, he asked for a room at the City Library, 

 which was readily granted. Here he could gather about him 

 papers and books, which during his absence would remain 

 undisturbed. Mr. Winsor, the efficient and obliging Super- 

 intendent, tells me that for more than a month Prof. Agassiz 

 passed at least three or four days of each week, from nine 

 o'clock in the morning until generally three o'clock in the 



