Written by Swiss–born geologist and explorer Louis Agassiz (1807–73), this 1850 publication was the first detailed scientific account of the natural phenomena of Lake Superior. Agassiz, who became a professor at Harvard and later founded the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, was the first scientist to suggest that the earth had experienced an ice age. In the summer of 1848 he led an expedition of his students to Lake Superior, to examine the northern shores, which had previously received very little attention from scientists. The artist James Elliot Cabot (1821–1903), who was included in the party, wrote the 'narrative' of the tour to accompany the scientific report, and this makes up the first part of the work. The rest of the book describes the geological phenomena and zoological distribution in and around the lake, comparing it with similar regions of the world.