THE course at the Lowell Institute was immediately followed by one upon glaciers, the success of which was guaranteed by private subscription,--an unnecessary security, since the audience, attracted by the novelty and picturesqueness of the subject, as well as by the charm of presentation and fullness of illustration, was large and enthusiastic. Agassiz was evidently encouraged himself by his success, for toward the close of his Lowell Lectures he writes as follows:-- TO CHANCELLOR FAVARGEZ. BOSTON, December 31, 1846. . . .Beside my lecture course, now within a few days of its conclusion, and the ever-increasing work which grows on my hands in proportion as I become familiar with the environs of Boston, where I shall still remain a few weeks longer, I have so much to do in keeping up my journals, notes, and observations that I have not found a moment to write you since the last steamer. . .Never did the future look brighter to me than now. If I could for a moment forget that I have a scientific mission to fulfill, to which I will never prove recreant, I could easily make more than enough by lectures which would be admirably paid and are urged upon me, to put me completely at my ease hereafter. But I will limit myself to what I need in order to repay those who have helped me through a difficult crisis, and that I can do without even turning aside from my researches. Beyond that all must go again to science,--there lies my true mission. I rejoice in what I have been able to do thus far, and I hope that at Berlin they will be satisfied with the results which I shall submit to competent judges on my return. If I only have time to finish what I have begun! You know my plans are not wont to be too closely restricted. Why do you not write to me? Am I then wholly forgotten in your pleasant circle while my thoughts are every day constantly with my Neuchatel friends?. . . Midnight, January 1st. A happy new year to you and to all members of the Tuesday Club. Bonjour et bon an. . . Some portions of Agassiz's correspondence with his European friends and colleagues during the winter and summer of 1847 give a clew to the occupations and interests of his new life, and keep up the thread of the old one. LOUIS AGASSIZ TO M. DECAISNE. February, 1847.