Swiss-born scientist, respected for his work in natural history. Member of the French Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society, and virtually every other European and American scientific organization. Manuscript document requesting the release from a warehouse of a quantity of alcohol "for the sole and exclusive purpose of preserving specimens of natural history." Addressed to the US Secretary of the Treasury, dated April 5, 1873, and signed by Agassiz as Director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology.