64 



Louis Agassiz. 



became as firm as rock, and in moving carried all 

 before it, depositing the erratic bowlders all over 

 Europe. The theories advocated at this time by 

 scientists were that these deposits were caused by 

 freshets, floods, and other local phenomena, and, as 

 might be expected, the young president of the Hel- 

 vetic Society was attacked from all sides with good- 

 natured but active antagonism. Humboldt at first 

 took exception to his views, and wrote him that 

 ^' Von Buch rages, as you may already know, consid- 

 ering the subject (of glaciers), as he does, his exclu- 

 sive property." 



Von Buch with difficulty controlled his temper 

 when he listened to what he firmly believed to be 

 heresies of the grossest kind. He laughed when 

 shown the glacial markings at Neuchatel, and said 

 that the lines were caused by the boys of Neuchatel 

 in sliding down the hills of that picturesque region, 

 exclaiming as he left the spot, O Sancte de Saussure^ 

 or a pro nobis y 



Humboldt feared that his young friend would be 

 drawn away from his studies of fishes by the fresh 

 charms of the glaciers and protested vigorously. 



For mercy's sake," he wrote, take care of your 

 health which is so dear to us. I am afraid you work 

 too much, and (shall I say it frankly ?) that you 

 spread your intellect over too many subjects at once. 

 I think that you should concentrate your moral and 

 also your pecuniary strength upon this beautiful 

 work on fossil fishes. In so doing you will render a 

 greater service to positive geology, than by these 

 general considerations (a little icy withal) on the 



