1831-1841.] 
AGASSIZ AND BUCKLAND. 
139 
the propriety of asking for another grant to Agassiz, if he 
brings with him some good work done out of English 
Fishes since last meeting.” He knew well the hard struggle 
Agassiz had with life, and in his generous large-heartedness 
did all he could to assist him* Both Dr Buckland and his 
wife had the greatest affection and esteem for the simple- 
minded young Swiss Professor, and both cordially sympa¬ 
thised with him in his enthusiastic love of science, as well 
as in his belief that scientific facts are in truth but transla¬ 
tions into human language of the thoughts of the Creator. 
For such aid and sympathy Agassiz was deeply grateful. 
His private letters contain touching passages, in which, 
in the most natural manner possible, his enthusiasm breaks 
to the surface, or he regrets his want of money, not for 
himself, but for the work he longed to complete, or 
expresses his heartfelt gratitude towards all those who 
helped him to bring out his splendid addition to the science 
of geology. 
Not only in his indefatigable energy in the cause of 
science, but also in his forgetfulness of his own domestic 
comfort, Agassiz greatly resembled Buckland. It might 
have been Buckland, if it had not been Agassiz, who— 
if the story be true—prepared his coffee in the morning 
and his tea in the evening in the same saucepan in which 
all day he was boiling up specimens for skeletons ! The 
two friends were alike also as lecturers and founders of 
museums and scientific societies, and in their power of 
communicating to others their own enthusiasm. Change 
Neuchatel into Oxford, and the following description of the 
Swiss Professor might have been written of Buckland : — 
