Winning Fame. 



6i 



naturalists, merging into applause and congratula- 

 tion, much to the astonishment of Agassiz, who 

 stepped back to see one of his colleagues raise a 

 screen and display upon the wall the original of the 

 fish his master-hand had conceived from the depths 

 of his well-stored mind. To such an extent,'' says 

 Dr. Stebbins, had this great scientist advanced in a 

 knowledge of the plan of God in nature." 



Hardly a day passed that Agassiz did not receive 

 letters asking him to visit various localities. One 

 which attracted especial attention was from Char- 

 pentier, who had made a reputation by his studies 

 of the glacial systems of Europe. He urged Agassiz 

 to make him a visit, offering as an inducement some 

 fossils which he had discovered, and in 1836 Agas- 

 siz decided to spend the summer with him, little 

 dreaming that his experiments would give him even 

 more renown than the Brazilian fishes and other 

 publications which he brought out. There was 

 hardly a field in natural science that Agassiz had not 

 investigated, and on the question of glaciers he had 

 well-defined views which differed materially from 

 those of Charpentier, who now urged him to visit 

 him. 



Agassiz did not accept the theory of his corres- 

 pondent, that the bowlders found all over Switzerland 

 were distributed by the agency of ice ; indeed, he 

 considered it so very improbable that he felt confi- 

 dent that he could soon disabuse Charpentier of the 

 belief, and with this in view he began the journey to 

 Bex in the valley of the Rhone. The result of his 

 summer expeditions was a complete victory for 



