540 
LIFE OF DEAN BUCK LAND . 
[CH. V. 
“ II se montra, des ses debuts, un professeur merveilleux, 
qui communiquait sa flamme a ses auditeurs et les entrai- 
nait a la conquete de la verite. II se produisait sous 
son influence un remarquable mouvement scientifique, que 
les 6venements de 1848 devaient brusquement interrompre, 
de cette epoque datent la fondation de la Societe des 
Sciences Naturelles et Textension du riche musee.” 
Agassiz was fired with the same love and passion for his 
museum which inspired Buckland. The Swiss Professor 
had many brilliant offers of advancement, but “ ce que le 
retenait surtout en Amerique, c’etait son musee de Cam¬ 
bridge, sa creation, Pceuvre de sa vie en faveur de laquelle 
il avait su dvciller Tinteret general.” 1 
Though the two men were equal in their love for their 
respective museums, they were not equally fortunate in 
obtaining recognition of the value of their collections. 
The appreciation of the new geological science by Ameri¬ 
cans in 1858 forms a striking contrast to the neglect of 
it which was evinced by the Oxford University in 1856. 
The legislature of Massachusetts gave a valuable site to 
Agassiz for his museum , a private individual bequeathed 
50,000 dollars ; and private subscriptions were raised 
which amounted to 71,000 dollars. Buckland’s museum, 
on the other hand, which was the result of forty years 
of travel, toil, and self-denial, has almost perished for want 
of a few hundred pounds from the University chest to 
unpack and arrange it in the new building to which it 
was removed in 1856. 
Agassiz was at this time engaged in working out his 
1 “Louis Agassiz”—Philippa Godet. 
