Scientifc results of a Journey in Brazil: Geology and Physical Georgraphy of Brazil by Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz (1807-1873) and Fred Hart - 1870

xiii+620 pages with frontispiece, tables, drawings, woodcuts, maps, plates and index. Octavo (8 3/4" x 5 3/4") bound in quarter brown leather with gilt lettering to spine over brown boards. First edition. Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz American biologist and geologist recognized as an innovative and prodigious scholar of Earth's natural history. Agassiz grew up in Switzerland. He received doctor of philosophy and medical degrees at Erlangen and Munich, respectively. After studying with Cuvier and Humboldt in Paris, Agassiz was appointed professor of natural history at the University of Neuchâtel. He emigrated to the United States in 1847 after visiting Harvard University. He went on to become professor of zoology and geology at Harvard, to head its Lawrence Scientific School, and to found its Museum of Comparative Zoology. Stricken by ill health in the 1860s, Agassiz resolved to return to the field for relaxation and to resume his studies of Brazilian fish. In April 1865, he led a party to Brazil. Following his return in August 1866, an account of this expedition, entitled A Journey in Brazil, was published in 1868. In December 1871, he made a second eight-month excursion, known as the Hassler expedition under the command of Commander Philip Carrigan Johnson (brother of Eastman Johnson), visiting South America on its southern Atlantic and Pacific seaboards. The ship explored the Magellan Strait, drawing the praise of Charles Darwin. Condition: Former library copy with stamps to title and frontispiece with stamps throughout verso of plates and several pages. Former owner's small book plate on front paste down, some foxing else very good.