TRANSLATION OF MINERAL CONCHOLOGY. 
7 
rected against him in the columns of an English Journal. We are glad 
to find that on this head we have not been mistaken ; and we may add 
too that our expectations have been completely realised, in not even the 
shadow of an argument being adduced to oppose the views which we 
put forward, as to the injurious prospective operation of the part acted 
by Agassiz. He repeats, it is true, the substance of the shallow sophism 
that we quoted from his preface ; but how does he support the position 
which he would there maintain, — the assumed “ utilite ” of the measure 
we condemn ? Three hundred cheap Sowerbys, he tells us, will be dis- 
tributed over the continent, and pass into the hands of those who would 
not otherwise have possessed copies of this important work. But has 
Agassiz so little foresight, — so small a share of penetration, that he looks 
to this one result as the sole and only consequence of the course which 
he is pursuing? Can he not perceive that the system which he has com- 
menced, if followed up upon the strength of his example, must strike at 
the very existence of a class of works upon which the progress of Geolo- 
gy is essentially dependent ; — works which convey to us delineations of 
new forms as they are brought to light in both the past and existing or- 
der of creation ; — which tell their own tale without the aid of a transla- 
tor, let the country be what it may to which science is indebted for their 
acquisition ; but which, from the heavy cost of their production, and the 
limited class among whom they circulate, require that kind of support 
which is not restricted by the boundaries of clime or country ? 
Agassiz has saved us the necessity of selecting an instance by way of 
illustration. Singularly enough, the same document which contains the 
attempt to justify his conduct, informs us that notwithstanding the un- 
exampled support which, although a foreigner, he has in this country re- 
ceived, by the aid of public pecuniary grants, and that of most extensive 
private subscription, still that his ‘ Poissons Fossiles ’ has been to him 
“ une source intarissable de desagremens et de sacrifices.” Surely then 
this, his own experience, might have suggested to Agassiz the impor- 
tance of every possible encouragement being held out to the present au- 
thor of the ‘ Mineral Conchology,’ with a view to the continuation of that 
work, rather than that the continental demand should, for the future, be 
supplied by an edition so low in price, that competition on the part of 
Mr. Sowerby would be utterly impossible. 
As it respects the minor points adverted to by Agassiz, we shall be very 
brief. That an English sale of the cheap edition was calculated upon, 
we feel satisfied, because a large number of prospectuses have been dis- 
patched to this country, and great pains taken to circulate them ; but 
whether at the instigation of Prof. Agassiz or his lithographer, we cannot 
