164 



Louis Agassis. 



coach, intending to meet the steamer at some north- 

 ern point. The trip proved fruitful in results and 

 was most enjoyable to the little party, who joined the 

 ship finally at Valparaiso. At Santiago Agassiz was 

 received with distinguished honours. , Among the 

 pleasant surprises which greeted him was the an- 

 nouncement of his election as Foreign Associate 

 of the Institute of France, which he considered 

 one of the highest honours he could receive. In a 

 letter to the Emperor of Brazil he refers to it as 

 follows : 



The distinction pleased me the more because so 

 unexpected. Unhappily it is usually a brevet of 

 infirmity, or at least of old age, and in my case it is 

 to a house in ruins that the diploma is addressed. I 

 regret it the more because I have never felt more 

 disposed for work, and yet never so fatigued by it.*' 



A most interesting part of the Hassler voyage 

 was that portion devoted to the Galapagos Islands — 

 Albemarle and others. In the former Agassiz 

 studied the peculiar volcanic formation, and in his 

 memoirs he refers to the fact that the party lunched 

 one day in a cave which was nothing more or less 

 than a broken volcanic bubble or air-hole which was 

 forty feet long by ten in height. 



The trip up the coast was continued with increas- 

 ing interest, and finally, in August, 1872, the Hassler 

 entered the Golden Gate. Agassiz was received with 

 the greatest cordiality by scientists and laymen. 

 His interest in scientific work on the Pacific Coast 

 was shown in many ways, one result being the en- 

 dowment of the University of California by Edward 



