to many in his native land, I have determined to publish the
material here collected.

The book labors under the disadvantage of being in great part a
translation. The correspondence for the first part was almost
wholly in French and German, so that the choice lay between a
patch-work of several languages or the unity of one, burdened as it
must be with the change of version. I have accepted what seemed to
me the least of these difficulties.

Besides the assistance of my immediate family, including the
revision of the text by my son Alexander Agassiz, I have been
indebted to my friends Dr. and Mrs. Hagen and to the late Professor
Guyot for advice on special points. As will be seen from the list
of illustrations, I have also to thank Mrs. John W. Elliot for her
valuable aid in that part of the work.

On the other side of the water I have had most faithful and
efficient collaborators. Mr. Auguste Agassiz, who survived his
brother Louis several years, and took the greatest interest in
preserving whatever concerned his scientific career, confided to my
hands many papers and documents belonging to his brother's earlier
life. After his death, his cousin and brother-in-law, Mr. Auguste
Mayor, of Neuchatel, continued the same affectionate service.
Without their aid I could not have completed the narrative as it
now stands.

The friend last named also selected from the glacier of the Aar, at
the request of Alexander Agassiz, the boulder which now marks his
father's grave. With unwearied patience Mr. Mayor passed hours of