196 



AMERICAN JOURNEY. 



[Chap. V. 



of Dr. Gould, a physician and eminent naturalist, who had 

 entrusted him with his valuable conchological collection when 

 he was preparing his Report (p. 142). He was introduced by 

 him to the meetings of a scientific club, and of the Academy, 

 where he met some of the most eminent residents. At Cam- 

 bridge he " went to Professor Agassiz at his den ! Such a den, 

 and so orderly, is rarely seen. Here are boxes, barrels, bottles, 

 etc., all piled up, a houseful, so close that you can hardly pass 

 by. A frame house, and the idea of fire is appalling ; and yet 

 he and his assistants are constantly smoking. . . . He explained 

 to me his plans, and I pointed out what we want in the West 

 Coast. He has people collecting at the various stations. ... I 

 established friendly conchological relations with him." Agassiz 

 was distinguished, not only as a naturalist, but for his success 

 in stimulating a great zeal for natural history • and an immense 

 fire-proof museum was to be erected for his collections. His 

 collectors were instructed to obtain large quantities of the 

 various specimens, and to label them on the spot, for fear of 

 mistake as to their locality. When Philip saw all that was 

 done at Boston and Cambridge, he regretted — as indeed he 

 had done at Montreal — that his collection was buried at 

 Albany. 



He was hospitably welcomed by Mr. Emerson, Mr. Long- 

 fellow, and other celebrated men ; but he intimated that his 

 " organ of veneration " was too large for him to feel quite at hi 

 ease with them. The late Dr. Howe, distinguished by his sue 

 cessful labours for those bereft of sight, and for idiots, intro 

 duced him to Laura Bridgman — deaf, dumb, and blind — whose 

 mind he had so wonderfully awakened and cultured. She was 

 reading her Bible, as was her custom every morning, and Philip 

 noted that if anything happened to him he should like some o 

 his shells sent to her : she referred with pleasure to a present his 

 sister Mary had sent her many years before. It was from Dr. 

 Howe that he first heard of John Brown, who was in Boston 

 to make preparations for the attempt by which his name is 

 immortalized. " The night before, Dr. Howe met J. Brown, 

 the Lynch-law Abolitionist. He considers his mission to be, 



