148 



Louis Agassiz. 



the prices were as high as at the theatre. This 

 course created a very general interest in science in 

 New York, and at the close the following resolution 

 was offered by Bancroft, the historian : 



Resolved^ That the thanks of this great assembly 

 of delighted hearers, etc., be given to the illustrious 

 Professor Agassiz, for the fulness of his instruction, 

 for the clearness of his method of illustration, for 

 his exposition of the idea as antecedent to form ; 

 of the superiority of the undying, original, and 

 eternal force over its transient manifestations ; for 

 happy hours which passed too rapidly away ; for 

 genial influences c5f which the memory will last 

 through our lives." 



The following months and entire winter Agassiz 

 gave to his collections, the arrangement and care of 

 which involved an enormous amount of work. The 

 following year he devoted to his studies, spending 

 much of the time at Nahant. During this period, 

 he urged upon Professor Benjamin Peirce, then 

 superintendent of the Coast Survey, the propriety of 

 making the survey as valuable as possible to the 

 scientific world, — a suggestion happily adopted. 



In this year Agassiz lost his mother, who had 

 always been in close sympathy with his work and 

 in constant communication with him. The loss fell 

 heavily upon him, and undoubtedly affected his 

 own health, which now gave way again, necessita- 

 ting complete rest. He slowly recovered strength, 

 and in 1868 made an excursion to the West with a 

 large party of prominent men. On his return he 

 stopped at Ithaca where Cornell University was just 



