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No answer to this letter has been found beyond such as is implied in the following to M. Coulon.
Humboldt to M. Coulon, Fils.
Berlin, January 21, 1833.
. . . It gives me great pleasure to acknowledge the flattering welcome offered by you and your fellow-citizens to M. Agassiz, who stands so high in science, and whose intellectual qualities are enhanced by his amiable character.
They write me from Heidelberg that they intend the place of M. Leuckart in zoology for my young friend.
The choice is proposed by M. Tiedemann, and certainly nothing could be more honorable to M. Agassiz.
Nevertheless, I hope that he will refuse it. He should remain for some years in your country, where a generous encouragement facilitates the publication of his work, which is of equal importance to zoology and geology.
I have spoken with M. Ancillon, and have left with him an official notice respecting the purchase of the Agassiz collection.
The difficulty will be found, as in all human affairs, in the prose of life, in money.
M. Ancillon writes me this morning: ‘Your paper in favor of M. Agassiz is a scientific letter of credit ’