The American Trip. 



87 



duce numerous expensive publications, it has been 

 only by following this system of economy and vol- 

 untary seclusion ; and the results which I have 

 obtained thus far have rewarded me so well for the 

 privations which I have suffered, that I have no 

 temptation to adopt another style of life, even 

 should I hereafter, and especially in your country, 

 suffer more trouble than I have had to sustain in my 

 own." 



Agassiz remained in Paris some time, completing 

 his second work on glaciers. While here he received 

 the Monthyon Prize of Physiology from the Acad- 

 emy in appreciation of his work on fossil fishes. 

 From Paris he went to England, sailing from there 

 for America, arriving in Boston in October, 1846. 

 His fame had long preceded him, and the name of 

 Agassiz was a familiar one to the people of Boston, 

 and when he appeared upon the platform, ready to 

 begin his series on The Plan of Creation^ he was 

 accorded a warm and enthusiastic welcome. Fresh 

 from Europe and entirely unfamiliar with the demo- 

 cratic institutions and methods of America, he found 

 himself confronted by an audience of to him an 

 extraordinary nature. It was composed not of the 

 wealthy people exclusively, but of the rich and the 

 poor, side by side. The plan of securing tickets to 

 the Lowell Institute was to draw lots for them, thus 

 giving all classes an equal opportunity to benefit 

 by the bequest. Agassiz was obviously at a disad- 

 vantage in his imperfect mastery of the English 

 language, yet such was his charm of manner, his 

 forcible and simple method of presenting facts, that 



