Always with entire regard yours,
R.W. EMERSON.
At about this time, in September, 1864, Agassiz made an excursion into Maine, partly to examine the drift phenomena on the islands and coast of that State, and partly to study the so-called "horse-backs." The journey proved to be one of the most interesting he had made in this country with reference to local glacial phenomena. Compass in hand, he followed the extraordinary ridges of morainic material lying between Bangor and Katahdin, to the Ebeene Mountains, at the foot of which are the Katahdin Iron Works. Returning to Bangor, he pursued, with the same minute investigation, the glacial tracks and erratic material from that place to the seacoast and to Mount Desert. The details of this journey and its results are given in one of the papers contained in the second volume of his "Geological Sketches." In conclusion, he says; "I suppose these facts must be far less expressive to the general observer than to one who has seen this whole set of phenomena in active operation. To me they have been for many years so familiar in the Alpine valleys, and their aspect in those regions is so identical with the facts above described, that paradoxical as the statement may seem, the presence of the ice is now an unimportant element to me in the study of glacial phenomena; no more essential than is the flesh to the anatomist who studies the skeleton of a fossil animal."
This journey in Maine, undertaken in the most beautiful season of the American year, when the autumn glow lined the forest roads with red and gold, was a great refreshment to Agassiz. He had been far from well, but he returned to his winter's work invigorated and with a new sense of hope and courage.
CHAPTER 21.
1865-1868: AGE 58-61.
Letter to his Mother announcing Journey to Brazil.
Sketch of Journey.
Kindness of the Emperor.
Liberality of the Brazilian Government.
Correspondence with Charles Sumner.
Letter to his Mother at Close of Brazil Journey.
Letter from Martius concerning Journey in Brazil.
Return to Cambridge.
Lectures in Boston and New York.
Summer at Nahant.
Letter to Professor Peirce on the Survey of Boston Harbor.
Death of his Mother.
Illness.
Correspondence with Oswald Heer.
Summer Journey in the West.
Cornell University.
Letter from Longfellow.
THE next important event in the life of Agassiz, due in the first instance to his failing health, which made some change of scene and climate necessary, is best announced by himself in the following letter.
TO HIS MOTHER.
CAMBRIDGE, March 22, 1865.