On the ''Hassler^ 



Tompkins of Oakland in the name of Agassiz, 

 while the gift of Lick Observatory undoubtedly 

 could be traced to similar inspiration. 



Agassiz was received in San Francisco by Joseph 

 Le Conte, Davidson, Oilman, Drs. Stebbins and 

 Scott, Dr. Ezra Carr, and other well-known men and 

 scientists, finding here man}^ old friends and ac- 

 quaintances. He was tendered a number of recep- 

 tions, and the impression he made upon strangers 

 is well illustrated in the following incident. A 

 well-known literary man, now connected with the 

 Academy of Sciences of San Francisco, told the 

 author that he was a guest at a reception tendered Pro- 

 fessor and Mrs. Agassiz, General had dined 



with royalty, was a skilled diplomat, and one of 

 the last men to become disconcerted under any 

 circumstances ; yet when he was presented to 

 the distinguished guest of the evening and re- 

 called his work and reputation, he was singularly 

 confused. " His personality impressed me to a 

 marked degree," he said to the author, and when I 

 found myself in his presence, and remembered his 

 career and the manner of man he was, I was silenced, 

 much to my annoyance, and when I did speak it was 

 to tell a deliberate untruth. Agassiz asked me if I 

 had been long on the coast. In reply I said no, 

 when in reality I was a forty-niner. Later when I 

 met Mrs. Agassiz I told her how in my confusion, 

 and I might say admiration for her husband, I had 

 told him an untruth. She considered it an excel- 

 lent joke, and later, in the full possession of my 

 faculties I enjoyed a laugh over the occurrence with 



