v-.-;; .
''"'/.: g
'
:--;, -. .:
. . / '/.-. .
'
- ' ' ' -
-' -
9HI ' ' ' I '
' ^' : ^ v : ; ',;''
..-: -- : ' ..:-.- .: .:' '
-.-; --;..:
AGASSIZ AT OF UINI
LOUIS AGASSIZ
HIS LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE
EDITED BY
ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. I.
BOSTON
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
New York: 11 East Seventeenth Street
1885
Copyright, 1885,
Br ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ.
All rights reserved.
-jo
The Riverside Press, Cambridge:
Electrotyped and Printed by H. 0. Houghton & Co.
PREFACE.
I AM aware that this book has neither the
fullness of personal narrative, nor the closeness
of scientific analysis, which its too comprehen-
sive title might lead the reader to expect. A
word of explanation is therefore needed. I
thought little at first of the general public,
when I began to weave together in narrative
form the facts, letters, and journals contained
in these volumes. My chief object was to pre-
vent the dispersion and final loss of scattered
papers which had an unquestionable family
value. But, as my work grew upon my
hands, I began to feel that the story of an in-
tellectual life, which was marked by such rare
coherence and unity of aim, might have a
wider interest and usefulness ; might, perhaps,
iv PREFA CE.
serve as a stimulus and an encouragement
to others. For this reason, and also because
I am inclined to believe that the European
portion of the life of Louis Agassiz is little
known in his adopted country, while its Amer-
ican period must be unfamiliar 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 cor-
respondence for the first volume 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 fami-
ly, 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.
PREFACE. V
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 in-
terest in preserving whatever concerned his
scientific career, confided to my hands many
papers and documents belonging to his broth-
er's earlier life. After the death of my
brother-in-law, his cousin 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 Alex-
ander Agassiz, the boulder which now marks
his father's grave. With unwearied patience
Mr. Mayor passed hours of toilsome search
among the blocks of the moraine near the
site of the old " Hotel des Neuchatelois," and
vi PREFACE.
chose at last a stone so monumental in form
that not a touch of the hammer was needed
to fit it for its purpose. In conclusion I allow
myself the pleasure of recording here my grat-
itude to him and to all who have aided me
in my work.
ELIZABETH C. AGASSIZ.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS., June 11, 1885.
CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
CHAPTER I.
1807-1827: TO ,ET. 20.
Birthplace. Influence of his Mother. Early Love
of Natural History. Boyish Occupations. Do-
mestic Education. First School. Vacations.
Commercial Life renounced. College of Lausanne.
Choice of Profession. Medical School of Zurich.
Life and Studies there. University of Heidel-
berg. Studies interrupted by Illness. Return to
Switzerland. Occupations during Convalescence . 1
CHAPTER II.
1827-1828: ,ET. 20-21.
Arrival in Munich. Lectures. Relations with the
Professors. Schelling, Martius, Oken, Dbllinger.
Relations with Fellow - Students. The Little
Academy. Plans for Traveling. Advice from
his Parents. Vacation Journey. Tri-Centennial
Diirer Festival at Nuremberg ..... 46
CHAPTER III.
1828-1829: ,ET. 21-22.
First Important Work in Natural History. Spix's
Brazilian Fishes. Second Vacation Trip. Sketch
Vlii CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
of Work during University Year. Extracts from
the Journal of Mr. Dmkel. Home Letters. - - Hope
of joining Humboldt's Asiatic Expedition. Diploma
of Philosophy. - - Completion of First Part of the
Spix Fishes. Letter concerning it from Cuvier . 74
CHAPTER IV.
1829-1830: JET. 22-23.
Scientific Meeting at Heidelberg. Visit at Home.
Illness and Death of his Grandfather. Return to
Munich. Plans for Future Scientific Publications.
Takes his Degree of Medicine. Visit to Vienna.
Return to Munich. Home Letters. Last Days
at Munich. Autobiographical Review of School
and University Life ....... 117
CHAPTER V.
1830-1832 : ^T. 23-25.
Year at Home. Leaves Home for Paris. Delays on
the Road. Cholera. Arrival in Paris. First
Visit to Cuvier. Cuvier's Kindness. His Death.
Poverty in Paris. Home Letters concerning
Embarrassments and about his Work. Singular
Dream ......... 158
CHAPTER VI.
1832 : ;ET. 25.
Unexpected Relief from Difficulties. Correspondence
with Humboldt. Excursion to the Coast of Nor-
mandy. First Sight of the Sea. Correspondence
concerning Professorship at Neuchatel. Birthday
Fete. Invitation to Chair of Natural History at
Neuchatel. Acceptance. Letter to Humboldt . 184
CONTENTS OF VOL. 1.
CHAPTER VII.
1832-1834: ,ET. 25-27.
Enters upon his Professorship at Neuchatel. First
Lecture. Success as a Teacher. Love of Teach-
ing. Influence upon the Scientific Life of Neucha-
tel. Proposal from University of Heidelberg.
Proposal declined. Threatened Blindness. Cor-
respondence with Humboldt. Marriage. Invita-
tion from Charpentier. Invitation to visit England.
Wollaston Prize. First Number of " Poissons
Fossiles." Review of the Work .... 206
CHAPTER VIII.
1834-1837: JET. 27-30.
First Visit to England. Reception by Scientific Men.
Work on Fossil Fishes there. Liberality of Eng-
lish Naturalists. First Relations with American
Science. Farther Correspondence with Humboldt.
Second Visit to England. Continuation of " Fos-
sil Fishes." Other Scientific Publications. Atten-
tion drawn to Glacial Phenomena. Summer at Bex
with Charpentier. Sale of Original Drawings for
"Fossil Fishes." Meeting of Helvetic Society.
Address on Ice-Period. Letters from Humboldt
and Von Buch 248
CHAPTER IX.
1837-1839: JET. 30-32.
Invitation to Professorships at Geneva and Lausanne.
Death of his Father. Establishment of Litho-
graphic Press at Neuchatel. Researches upon
Structure of Mollusks. Internal Casts of Shells.
Glacial Explorations. Views of Buckland.
X CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
tions with Arnold Guyot. Their Work together in
the Alps. Letter to Sir Philip Egerton concerning
Glacial Work. Summer of 1839. Publication of
" Etudes sur les Glaciers " ..... 275
CHAPTER X.
1840-1842: JET. 33-35.
Summer Station on the Glacier of the Aar. Hotel
des Neuchatelois. Members of the Party. Work
on the Glacier. Ascent of the Strahleck and the
Siedelhorn. Visit to England. Search for Glacial
Remains in Great Britain. Roads of Glen Roy.
Views of English Naturalists concerning Agassiz's
Glacial Theory. Letter from Humboldt. Winter
Visit to Glacier. Summer of 1841 on the Glacier.
Descent into the Glacier. Ascent of the Jung-
frau .......... 298
CHAPTER XI.
1842-1843: ^T. 35-36.
Zoological Work uninterrupted by Glacial Researches.
Various Publications. " Nomenclator Zoologi-
cus." Bibliographia Zoologise et Geologise."
Correspondence with English Naturalists. - - Corre-
spondence with Humboldt. Glacial Campaign of
1842. Correspondence with Prince de Canino con-
cerning Journey to United States. - - Fossil Fishes
from the Old Red Sandstone. Glacial Campaign of
1843. Death of Leuthold, the Guide . . 333
CHAPTER XII.
1843-1846: ^T. 36-39.
Completion of Fossil Fishes. Followed by Fossil
Fishes of the Old Red Sandstone. Review of the
Later Work. Identification of Fishes by the Skull.
CONTENTS OF VOL. I. xi
Renewed Correspondence with Prince Canino
about Journey to the United States. Change of
Plan owing to the Interest of the King of Prussia in
the Expedition. Correspondence between Profes-
sor Sedgwick and Agassiz on Development Theory.
Final Scientific Work in Neuchatel and Paris.
Publication of " Systeme Glaciaire." Short Stay in
England. Farewell Letter from Humboldt. Sails
for United States . 366
LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS.
VOLUME I.
4-
PAGE
I. PORTRAIT OF Louis AGASSIZ AT THE AGE OF
NINETEEN ; copied by Mrs. John W. Elliot
from a pastel drawing by Cecile Brauu Frontispiece
II. THE STONE BASIN AT MOTIER ; drawn by Mrs.
Elliot from a photograph . . . Vignette
III. THE BIRTHPLACE OF Louis AGASSIZ ; from a
photograph 9
IV. HOTEL DBS NEUCHATELOIS ; copied by Mrs. El-
liot from an oil sketch made on the spot by J.
Burkhardt 305
V. PORTRAIT OF JACOB LEUTHOLD ; from a por-
trait by J. Burkhardt 329
VI. SECOND STATION ON THE AAR GLACIER ; cop-
ied by Mrs. Elliot from a sketch in oil by J.
Burkhardt . . 353
LOUIS AGASSIZ:
HIS LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE.
CHAPTER I.
1807-1827: TO .ET. 20.
Birthplace. Influence of his Mother. Early Love of Nat-
ural History. Boyish Occupations. Domestic Educa-
tion. First School. Vacations. Commercial Life re-
nounced. College of Lausanne. Choice of Profession.
Medical School of Zurich. Life and Studies there.
University of Heidelberg. Studies interrupted by Illness.
Return to Switzerland. Occupations during Convales-
cence.
JEAN Louis RODOLPHE AGASSIZ was born
May 28, 1807, at the village of Motier, on the
Lake of Morat. His father, Louis Rodolphe
Agassiz, was a clergyman ; his mother. Rose
Mayor, was the daughter of a physician whose
home was at Cudrefin, on the shore of the
Lake of Neuchatel.
The parsonages in Switzerland are fre-
quently pretty and picturesque. That of Mo-
tier, looking upon the lake and sheltered by
a hill which commands a view over the whole
VOL. I. 1
2 LOUIS AGASS1Z.
chain of the Bernese Alps, was especially so.
It possessed a vineyard large enough to add
something in good years to the small salary
of the pastor ; an orchard containing, among
other trees, an apricot famed the country
around for the unblemished beauty of its
abundant fruit; a good vegetable garden, and
a delicious spring of water flowing always
fresh and pure into a great stone basin behind
the house. That stone basin was Agassiz's
first aquarium ; there he had his first collec-
tion of fishes. 1
It does not appear that he had any preco-
cious predilection for study, and his parents,
who for the first ten years of his life were
his only teachers, were too wise to stimulate
his mind beyond the ordinary attainments of
his age. Having lost her first four children
in infancy, his mother watched with trem-
bling solicitude over his early years. It was
perhaps for this reason that she was drawn so
closely to her boy, and understood that his
love of nature, and especially of all living
1 After his death a touching tribute was paid to his mem-
ory by the inhabitants of his birthplace. With appropriate
ceremonies, a marble slab was placed above the door of the
parsonage of Motier, with this inscription, " J. Louis Agas-
siz, celebre naturaliste, est ne dans cette maison, le 28 Mai,
1807."
EARLY LOVE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 3
things, was an intellectual tendency, and not
simply a child's disposition to find friends
and playmates in the animals about him. In
later years her sympathy gave her the key to
the work of his manhood, as it had done to
the sports of his childhood. She remained
his most intimate friend to the last hour of
her life, and he survived her but six years.
Louis's love of natural history showed itself
almost from infancy. When a very little fel-
low he had, beside his collection of fishes, all
sorts of pets : birds, field-mice, hares, rabbits,
guinea-pigs, etc., whose families he reared with
the greatest care. Guided by his knowledge
of the haunts and habits of fishes, he and his
brother Auguste became the most adroit of
young fishermen, using processes all their
own and quite independent of hook, line, or
net. Their hunting grounds were the holes
and crevices beneath the stones or in the
water-washed walls of the lake shore. No
such shelter was safe from their curious fin-
gers, and they acquired such dexterity that
when bathing they could seize the fish even in
the open water, attracting them by little arts
to which the fish submitted as to a kind of
fascination. Such amusements are no doubt
the delight of many a lad living in the coun-
4 LOUIS AGASSI Z.
try, nor would they be worth recording ex-
cept as illustrating the unity of Agassiz's in-
tellectual development from beginning to end.
His pet animals suggested questions, to answer
which was the task of his life; and his inti-
mate study of the fresh-water fishes of Eu-
/
rope, later the subject of one of his important
works, began with his first collection from the
Lake of Morat.
As a boy he amused himself also with all
kinds of handicrafts on a small scale. The
carpenter, the cobbler, the tailor, were then as
much developed in him as the naturalist. In
Swiss villages it was the habit in those days
for the trades-people to go from house to
house in their different vocations. The shoe-
maker came two or three times a year with all
his materials, and made shoes for the whole
family by the day ; the tailor came to fit them
for garments which he made in the house ; the
cooper arrived before the vintage, to repair old
barrels and hogsheads or to make new ones, and
to replace their worn-out hoops ; in short, to
fit up the cellar for the coming season. Agas-
siz seems to have profited by these lessons as
much as by those he learned from his father ;
and when a very little fellow, he could cut
and put together a well-fitting pair of shoes
BOYISH OCCUPATIONS. 5
for his sisters' dolls, was no bad tailor, and
"could make a miniature barrel tbat was per-
fectly water-tight. He remembered these
trivial facts as a valuable part of his inci-
dental education. He said he owed much of
his dexterity in manipulation to the training
of eye and hand gained in these childish
plays.
Though fond of quiet, in-door occupation,
he was an active, daring boy. One winter
day when about seven years of age, he was
skating with his little brother Auguste, two
years younger than himself, and a number of
other boys, near the shore of the lake. They
were talking of a great fair held that day at
the town of Morat, on the opposite side of the
lake, to which M. Agassiz had gone in the
morning, not crossing upon the ice, however,
but driving around the shore. The temp-
tation was too strong for Louis, and he pro-
posed to Auguste that they should skate
across, join their father at the fair, and come
home with him in the afternoon. They start-
ed accordingly. The other boys remained on
their skating ground till twelve o'clock, the
usual dinner hour, when they returned to the
village. Mme. Agassiz was watching for her
boys, thinking them rather late, and on in-
6 LOUIS AGASSI Z.
quiring for them among the troop of urchins
coming down the village street she learned
C? O
on what errand they had gone. Her anxiety
may be imagined. The lake was not less
than two miles across, and she was by no
means sure that the ice was safe. She hur-
ried to an upper window with a spy-glass to
see if she could descry them anywhere. At
the moment she caught sight of them, already
far on their journey, Louis had laid himself
down across a fissure in the ice, thus making
a bridge for his little brother, who was creep-
ing over his back. Their mother directed a
workman, an excellent skater, to follow them
as swiftly as possible. He overtook them
just as they had gained the shore, but it did
not occur to him that they could return other-
wise than they had come, and he skated back
with them across the lake. Weary, hungry,
and disappointed, the boys reached the house
without having seen the fair or enjoyed the
drive home with their father in the afternoon.
When he was ten years old, Agassiz was
sent to the college for boys at Bienne, thus
exchanging the easy rule of domestic instruc-
tion for the more serious studies of a public
school. He found himself on a level with his
class, however, for his father was an admirable
SCHOOL LIFE.
teacher. Indeed it would seem that Agassiz's
own passion for teaching, as well as his love
of young people and his sympathy with intel-
lectual aspiration everywhere, was an inherit-
ance. Wherever his father was settled as
pastor, at Motier, at Orbe, and later at Con-
cise, his influence was felt in the schools as
much as in the pulpit. A piece of silver re-
mains, a much prized heir-loom in the family,
given to him by the municipality of Orbe in
acknowledgment of his services in the schools.
J5
The rules of the school at Bienne were
rather strict, but the life led by the boys was
hardy and invigorating, and they played as
heartily as they worked. Remembering his
own school life, Agassiz often asked himself
whether it was difference of climate or of
method, which makes the public school life in
the United States so much more trying to the
health of children than the one under which
he was brought up. The boys and girls in
our public schools are said to be overworked
with a session of five hours, and an additional
hour or two of study at home. At the Col-
lege of Bienne there were nine hours of study,
and the boys were healthy and happy. Per-
haps the secret might be found in the fre-
quent interruption, two or three hours of
8 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
study alternating with an interval for play or
rest. Agassiz always retained a pleasant im-
pression of the school and its teachers. Mr.
Bickly, the director, he regarded with an af-
fectionate respect, which ripened into friend-
ship in naaturer years.
The vacations were, of course, hailed with
delight, and as Motier was but twenty miles
distant from Bienne, Agassiz and his younger
brother Auguste, who joined him at school a
year later, were in the habit of making the
journey on foot. The lives of these brothers
were so closely interwoven in their youth that
for many years the story of one includes the
story of the other. They had everything in
common, and with their little savings they
used to buy books, chosen by Louis, the foun-
dation, as it proved, of his future library.
Long before dawn on the first day of vaca-
tion the two bright, active boys would be on
their homeward way, as happy as holiday
could make them, especially if they were re-
turning for the summer harvest or the au-
tumn vintage. The latter was then, as now,
a season of festivity. In these more modern
days something of its primitive picturesque-
ness may have been lost ; but when Agassiz
was a boy ? all the ordinary occupations were
N
10
OO
to
5
o
U.
O
LJ
O
CL
X
h-
QC
QQ
LU
X
VINTAGE SEASON. 9
given up for this important annual business,
in which work and play were so happily com-
bined. On the appointed day the working
people might be seen trooping in from neigh-
boring cantons, where there were no vine-
yards, to offer themselves for the vintage.
They either camped out at night, sleeping in
the open air, or found shelter in the stables
and outhouses. During the grape gathering
the floor of the barn and shed at the parson-
age of Motier was often covered in the even-
o
ing with tired laborers, both men and women.
Of course, when the weather was fine, these
were festival days for the children. A bushel
basket, heaped high with white and amber
bunches, stood in the hall, or in the living
room of the family, and young and old were
free to help themselves as they came and went.
Then there were the frolics in the vineyard,
the sweet cup of must (unfermented juice of
the grape), and the ball on the last evening
at the close of the merry-making.
Sometimes the boys passed their vacations
at Cudrefin, with their grandfather Mayor.
He was a kind old man, much respected in
his profession, and greatly beloved for his be-
nevolence. His little white horse was well
known in all the paths and by-roads of the
10 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
country around, as he went from village to
village among the sick. The grandmother
was frail in health, but a great favorite among
the children, for whom she had an endless
fund of stories, songs, and hymns. Aunt
Lisette, an unmarried daughter, who long
lived to maintain the hospitality of the old
Cudrefin house and to be beloved as the kind-
est of maiden aunts by two or three genera-
tions of nephews and nieces, was the domestic
providence of these family gatherings, where
the praises of her excellent dishes were annu-
ally sung. The roof was elastic ; there was
no question about numbers, for all came who
could ; the more, the merrier, with no diminu-
tion of good cheer.
The Sunday after Easter was the great pop-
ular fete. Then every house was busy color-
ing Easter eggs and making fritters. The
young girls and the lads of the village, the
former in their prettiest dresses and the latter
with enormous bouquets of artificial flowers
in their hats, went together to church in the
morning. In the afternoon the traditional
match between two runners, chosen from the
village youths, took place. They were dressed
in white, and adorned with bright ribbons.
With music before them, and followed by all
EASTER FESTIVAL.
the young people, they went in procession to
the place where a quantity of Easter eggs had
been distributed upon the ground. At a sig-
nal the runners separated, the one to pick up
the eggs according to a prescribed course, the
other to run to the next village and back
again. The victory was to the one who ac-
complished his task first, and he was pro-
claimed king of the feast. Hand in hand the
runners, followed as before by all their com-
panions, returned to join in the dance now
to take place before the house of Dr. Mayor.
After a time the festivities were interrupted
by a little address in patois from the first
musician, who concluded by announcing from
his platform a special dance in honor of the
family of Dr. Mayor. In this dance the fam-
ily with some of their friends and neighbors
took part, the young ladies dancing with
the peasant lads and the young gentlemen
with the girls of the village, while the rest
formed a circle to look on.
Thus, between study and recreation, the four
years which Agassiz's father and mother in-
tended he should pass at Bienne drew to a
close. A yellow, time-worn sheet of foolscap,
on which during the last year of his school-
life he wrote his desiderata in the way of
12 LOUIS AGASS1Z.
books, tells something of his progress and
his aspirations at fourteen years of age. " I
wish/' so it runs, " to advance in the sciences,
and for that I need d'Anville, Bitter, an Ital-
ian dictionary, a Strabo in Greek, Mannert
and Thiersch ; and also the works of Malte-
Brun and Seyfert. I have resolved, as far as
I am allowed to do so, to become a man of
letters, and at present I can go no further :
1st, in ancient geography, for I already know
all my note -books, and I have only such
books as Mr. Bickly can lend me ; I must
have d'Anville or Mannert ; 2d, in modern
geography, also, I have only such books as
Mr. Bickly can lend me, and the Osterwald
geography, which does not accord with the
new divisions ; I must have Bitter or Malte-
Brun ; 3d, for Greek I need a new gram-
mar, and I shall choose Thiersch ; 4th, I have
no Italian dictionary, except one lent me by
Mr. Moltz ; I must have one ; 5th, for Latin
I need a larger grammar than the one I
have, and I should like Seyfert ; 6th, Mr.
Bickly tells me that as I have a taste for
geography he will give me a lesson in Greek
(gratis), in which we would translate Strabo,
provided I can find one. For all this I ought
to have about twelve louis. I should like
SCHOLARLY HABITS. 13
to stay at Bienne till the month of July, and
afterward serve my apprenticeship in com-
merce at Neuchatel for a year and a half.
Then I should like to pass four years at a
university in Germany, and finally finish my
studies at Paris, where I would stay about
five years. Then, at the age of twenty-five,
I could begin to write."
Agassiz's note-books, preserved by his par-
ents, who followed the education of their chil-
dren with the deepest interest, give evidence
of his faithful work both at school and college.
They form a great pile of manuscript, from
the paper copy-books of the school-boy to the
carefully collated reports of the college stu-
dent, besrun when the writer was ten or eleven
' O
years of age and continued with little inter-
ruption till he was eighteen or nineteen. The
later volumes are of nearly quarto size and
very thick, some of them containing from four
to six hundred closely covered pages; the
handwriting is small, no doubt for economy
of space, but very clear. The subjects are
physiological, pathological, and anatomical,
with more or less of general natural history.
This series of books is kept with remarkable
neatness. Even in the boy's copy-books, con-
taining exercises in Greek, Latin, French and
14 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
German, with compositions on a variety of
topics, the writing is even and distinct, with
scarcely a blot or an erasure. From the very
beginning there is a careful division of sub-
jects under clearly marked headings, showing
even then a tendency toward an orderly classi-
fication of facts and thoughts.
o
It is evident from the boyish sketch which
he drew of his future plans that the hope of
escaping the commercial life projected for
him, and of dedicating himself to letters and
learning, was already dawning. He had be-
gun to feel the charm of study, and his sci-
entific tastes, though still pursued rather as
the pastimes of a boy than as the investiga-
tions of a student, were nevertheless becom-
ing more and more absorbing. He was fif-
teen years old and the time had come wlien,
according to a purpose long decided upon, he
was to leave school and enter the business
house of his uncle, Francois Mayor, at Neu-
chatel. He begged for a farther delay, to be
spent in two additional years of study at the
College of Lausanne. He was supported in
his request by several of his teachers, and
especially by Mr. Rickly, who urged his par-
ents to encourage the remarkable intelligence
and zeal already shown by their son in his
A COMMERCIAL LIFE ABANDONED. 15
studies. They were not difficult to persuade ;
indeed, only want of means, never want of
will, limited the educational advantages they
gave to their children.
It was decided, therefore, that he should go
to Lausanne. Here his love for everything
bearing on the study of nature was confirmed.
Professor Chavannes, Director of the Can-
tonal Museum, in whom he found not only
an interesting teacher, but a friend who sym-
pathized with his favorite tastes, possessed
the only collection of Natural History in the
Canton de Vaud. To this Agassiz now had
access. His uncle, Dr. Mathias Mayor, his
mother's brother and a physician of note in
Lausanne, whose opinion had great weight
with M. and Mme. Agassiz, was also attracted
by the boy's intelligent interest in anatomy
and kindred subjects. He advised that his
nephew should be allowed to study medicine,
and at the close of Agassiz's college course
at Lausanne the commercial plan was finally
abandoned, and he was permitted to choose
the medical profession as the one most akin to
his inclination.
Being now seventeen years of age, he went
to the medical school of Zurich. Here, for
the first time, he came into contact with men
16 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
whose instruction derived freshness and vigor
from their original researches. He was espe-
cially indebted to Professor Schinz, a man of
learning and ability, who held the chair of
Natural History and Physiology, and who
showed the w r armest interest in his pupil's
progress. He gave Agassiz a key to his pri-
vate library, as well as to his collection of
birds. This liberality was invaluable to one
whose poverty made books an unattainable
luxury. Many an hour did the young student
pass at that time in copying books which
were beyond his means, though some of them
did not cost more than a dollar a volume.
His brother August e, still his constant com-
panion, shared this task, a pure labor of love
with him, for the books were more necessary
to Louis's studies than to his own.
During the two years passed by Agassiz in
Zurich he saw little of society beyond the
walls of the university. His brother and he
had a pleasant home in a private house, where
they shared the family life of their host and
hostess. In company with them, Agassiz
made his first excursion of any importance
into the Alps. They ascended the Kighi and
passed the night there. At about sunset a
fearful thunder-storm gathered below them,
A CHANCE FRIEND. 17
while on the summit of the mountain the
weather remained perfectly clear and calm.
Under a blue sky they watched the light-
ning, and listened to the thunder in the dark
clouds, which were pouring torrents of rain
upon the plain and the Lake of Lucerne.
The storm lasted long after night had closed
in, and Agassiz lingered when all his com-
panions had retired to rest, till at last the
clouds drifted softly away, letting down the
ligrht of moon and stars on the lake and land-
o
scape. He used to say that in his subsequent
Alpine excursions he had rarely witnessed a
scene of greater beauty.
Such of his letters from Zurich as have
been preserved have only a home interest. In
one of them, however, he alludes to a curious
circumstance, which might have changed the
tenor of his life. He and his brother were
returning on foot, for the vacation, from Zu-
O f '
rich to their home which was now in Orbe,
where their father and mother had been set-
tled since 1821. Between Neuchatel and
Orbe they were overtaken by a traveling car-
riage. A gentleman who was its sole occu-
pant invited them to get in, made them wel-
come to his lunch, talked to them of their
student life, and their future plans, and drove
VOL. I.
18 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
them to the parsonage, where he introduced
himself to their parents. Some days after-
ward M. Aofassiz received a letter from this
o
chance acquaintance, who proved to be a man
in affluent circumstances, of good social posi-
tion, living at the time in Geneva. He wrote
to M. Agassiz that he had been singularly at-
tracted by his elder son, Louis, and that he
wished to adopt him, assuming henceforth all
the responsibility of his education and his es-
tablishment in life. This proposition fell like
a bomb-shell into the quiet parsonage. M.
Agassiz was poor, and every advantage for his
children was gamed with painful self-sacrifice
on the part of both parents. How then re-
fuse such an opportunity for one among them,
and that one so gifted ? After anxious reflec-
tion, however, the father, with the full con-
currence of his son, decided to decline an offer
which, brilliant as it seemed, involved a sepa-
ration and might lead to a false position. A
correspondence was kept up for years between
Louis and the friend he had so suddenly won,
and who continued to interest himself in his
career. Although it had no sequel, this inci-
dent is mentioned as showing a kind of per-
sonal magnetism which, even as child and boy,
Agassiz unconsciously exercised over others.
UNIVERSITY OF HEIDELBERG. 19
From Zurich, Agassiz went to the Univer-
sity of Heidelberg, where we find him in the
spring of 1826.
TO HIS FATHER.
HEIDELBERG, April 24, 1826.
. . . Having arrived early enough to see
something of the environs before the open-
ing of the term, I decided to devote each day
to a ramble in one direction or another, in
order to become familiar with my surround-
ings. I am the more glad to have done this
as I have learned that after the lectures begin
there will be no further chance for such in-
terruptions, and we shall be obliged to stick
closely to our work at home.
Our first excursion was to Neckarsteinach,
two and a half leagues from here. The road
follows the Neckar, and at certain places rises
boldly above the river, which flows between
two hills, broken by rocks of the color of red
chalk, which often jut out from either side.
Farther on the valley widens, and a pretty
rising ground, crowned by ruins, suddenly
presents itself in the midst of a wide plain,
where sheep are feeding. Neckarsteinach it-
self is only a little village, containing, how-
ever, three castles, two of which are in ruins.
20 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
The third is still inhabited, arid commands
a magnificent view. In the evening; we re-
o o
turned to Heidelberg by moonlight.
Another day we started for what is here
called " The Mountain,'' though it is at most
' O
no higher than Le Suchet. As the needful
supplies are not to be obtained there, we took
our provisions with us. We had so much fun
out of this, that I must tell you all about it.
In the morning Z bought at the market
veal, liver, and bacon enough to serve for
three persons during two days. To these sup-
plies we added salt, pepper, butter, onions,
bread, and some jugs of beer. One of us
took two saucepans for cooking, and some
alcohol. Arrived at the summit of our moun-
tain, we looked out for a convenient spot,
and there we cooked our dinner. It did not
take long, nor can I say whether all was done
according to the rules of art. But this I
know, that never did a meal seem to me
better. We wandered over the mountain for
the rest of the day, and at evening came to a
house where we prepared our supper after the
same fashion, to the great astonishment of
the assembled household, and especially of an
old woman who regretted the death of her
husband, because she said it would certainly
LETTER TO HIS FATHER. 21
have amused him. We slept on the ground
on some straw, and returned to Heidelberg
the next day in time for dinner. The fol-
lowing day we went to Mannheim to visit the
theatre. It is very handsome and well ap-
pointed, and we were fortunate in happening
upon an excellent opera. Beyond this, I saw
nothing of Mannheim except the house of
Kotzebue and the place where Sand was be-
headed.
To-day I have made my visits to the pro-
fessors. For three among them I had letters
from Professors Schinz and Hirzel. I was re-
ceived by all in the kindest way. Professor
Tiedemann, the Chancellor, is a man about
the age of papa and young for his years. He
is so well-known that I need not undertake
his panegyric here. As soon as I told him
that I brought a letter from Zurich, he showed
me the greatest politeness, offered me books
from his library ; in one word, said he would
be for me here what Professor Schinz, with
whom he had formerly studied, had been
for me in Zurich. After the opening of the
term, when I know these gentlemen better,
I will tell you more about them. I have
still to describe rny home, chamber, garden,
people of the house, etc.
22 LOUIS AGASS1Z.
The next letter fills in this frame-work.
TO HIS FATHER.
HEIDELBERG, May 24, 1826.
. . . According to your request, I am going
to write you all possible details about my
host, the employment of my time, etc., etc.
Mr. , my " philister," is a tobacco mer-
chant in easy circumstances, having a pretty
house in the faubourg of the city. My win-
dows overlook the town, and my prospect is
bounded by a hill situated to the north of
Heidelberg. At the back of the house is a
large and fine garden, at the foot of which is
a very pretty summer-house. There are also
several clumps of trees in the garden, and an
aviary filled with native birds. . . .
Since each day in term time is only the
repetition of every other, the account of one
will give an idea of all, especially as I fol-
low with regularity the plan of study I have
formed. Every morning I rise at six o'clock,
dress, and breakfast. At seven I go to my
lectures, given during the morning in the
Museum building, next to which is the ana-
tomical laboratory. If, in the interval, I
have a free hour, as sometimes happens from
ten to eleven, I occupy it in making anatom-
LETTER TO HIS FATHER. 23
ical preparations. I shall tell you more of
that and of the Museum another time. From
twelve to one I practice fencing. We dine
at about one o'clock, after which I walk till
tv/o, when I return to the house and to my
studies till five o'clock. From five to six we
have a lecture from the renowned Tiedernann.
After that, I either take a bath in the Neckar
or another walk. From eight to nine I re-
sume my special work, and then, according
to my inclination, go to the Swiss club, or,
if I am tired, to bed. I have my evening
service and talk silently with you, believing
that at that hour you also do not forget your
Louis, who thinks always of you. . . . As soon
as I know, for I cannot yet make an exact es-
timate, I will write you as nearly as possible
what my expenses are likely to be. Some-
times there may be unlooked-for expenditures,
as, for instance, six crowns for a matriculation
paper. But be assured that at all events I
shall restrict myself to what is absolutely nec-
essary, and do my best to economize. The
same of the probable duration of my stay in
Heidelberg ; I shall certainly not prolong it
needlessly. . . .
Now for the first time the paths of the
24 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
two brothers separated, Auguste returning
from Zurich to Neuchatel, where he entered
into business. It chanced, however, that in
one of the first acquaintances made by Louis
in Heidelberg he found not only a congenial
comrade, but a friend for life, and in after
years a brother. Professor Tiedemann, by
whom Agassiz had been so kindly received,
recommended him to seek the acquaintance of
young Alexander Braun, an ardent student,
and an especial lover of botany. At Tiede-
mann's lecture the next day Agassiz's attention
was attracted by a young man who sat next
him, and who was taking very careful notes
and illustrating them. There was something
very winning in his calm, gentle face, full of
benevolence and intelligence. Convinced by
his manner of listening to the lecture and
transcribing it that this was the student of
whom Tiedemann had spoken, Agassiz turned
to his neighbor as they both rose at the close
of the hour, and said, "Are you Alex.
Braun ? ' " Yes, and you, Louis Agassiz ? '
It seems that Professor Tiedemann, wiio must
have had a quick eye for affinities in the
moral as well as in the physical world, had
said to Braun also, that he advised him to
make the acquaintance of a young Swiss natu-
FRIENDSHIP WITH BRA UN.
25
ralist who had just come, and who seemed full
of enthusiasm for his work. The two young
men left the lecture-room together, and from
that time their studies, their excursions, their
amusements, were undertaken and pursued in
each other's company. In their long rambles,
while they collected specimens in their differ-
ent departments of Natural History, Braun
learned zoology from Agassiz, and he, in his
turn, learned botany from Braun. This was,
perhaps, the reason why Alexander Braun,
afterward Director of the Botanical Gardens
in Berlin, knew more of zoology than other
botanists, while Agassiz himself combined an
extensive knowledge of botany wdth his study
of the animal kingdom. That the attraction
was mutual may be seen by the following ex-
tract from a letter of Alexander Braun to his
father.
BRAUN TO HIS FATHER.
HEIDELBERG, May 12, 1826.
... In my leisure hours, between the fore-
noon and afternoon lectures, I go to the dis-
secting-room, where, in company with another
young naturalist who has appeared like a
rare comet on the Heidelberg horizon, I dis-
sect all manner of beasts, such as dogs, cats,
birds, fishes, and even smaller fry, snails, but-
26 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
terflies, caterpillars, worms, and the like. Be-
side this, we always have from Tiedemann the
very best books for reference and comparison,
for he has a fine library, especially rich in
anatomical works, and is particularly friendly
and obliging to us.
In the afternoon from two to three I attend
Geiger's lectures on pharmaceutical chemistry,
and from five to six those of Tiedemann on
comparative anatomy. In the interval, I some-
times go with this naturalist, so recently ar-
rived among us (his name is Agassiz, and he
is from Orbe), on a hunt after animals and
plants. Not only do we collect and learn to
observe ah 1 manner of things, but we have
O '
also an opportunity of exchanging our views
on scientific matters in general. I learn a
great deal from him, for he is much more at
home in zoology than I am. He is familiar
with almost all the known mammalia, recog-
nizes the birds from far off by their song, and
can give a name to every fish in the water.
In the morning we often stroll together
through the fish market, where he explains
to me all the different species. He is going
to teach me how to stuff fishes, and then we
intend to make a collection of all the native
kinds. Many other useful things he knows;
BRA UN TO HIS MOTHER. 27
speaks German and French equally well, Eng-
lish and Italian fairly, so that I have already
appointed him to be my interpreter on some
future vacation trip to Italy. He is well ac-
quainted with ancient languages also, and
studies medicine besides. . . .
A few lines from Braun to his mother,
several weeks later, show that this first en-
thusiasm, poured out with half-laughing ex-
travagance to his father, was ripening into
friendship of a more serious character.
BRAUN TO HIS MOTHER.
HEIDELBERG, June 1, 1826,
... I am very happy now that I have
found some one whose occupations are the
same as mine. Before Agassiz came I was
obliged to make my excursions almost always
alone, and to study in hermit-like isolation.
After all, two people working together can
accomplish far more than either one can do
alone. In order, for instance, to utilize the
interval spent in the time-consuming and me-
chanical work of preparing specimens, pin-
ning insects and the like, we have agreed
that while one is so employed the other shall
read aloud. In this way we shall go through
28 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
various works on physiology, anatomy, and
zoology. . . .
Next to Alexander Braun, Agassiz's most
congenial companion at Heidelberg was Karl
Schimper, a friend of Braun, and like him
a young botanist of brilliant promise. The
three soon became inseparable. Agassiz had
many friends and companions at the univer-
sity beside those who, on account of their
influence upon his after life, are mentioned
here. He was too affectionate not to be a
genial companion among his young country-
men of whom there were many at Heidel-
berg, where they had a club and a gymna-
sium of their own. In the latter, Agassiz
bore his part in all the athletic sports, being
distinguished both as a powerful gymnast and
an expert fencer.
Of the professors then at Heidelberg,
Leuckart, the zoologist, was, perhaps, the most
inspiriting. His lectures were full of original
suggestions and clever hypotheses, which ex-
cited and sometimes amused his listeners. He
knew how to take advantage of the enthu-
siasm of his brighter pupils, and, at their
request, gave them a separate course of in-
struction on special groups of animals ; not
PROFESSORS AT HEIDELBERG. 29
without some personal sacrifice, for these
extra lectures were given at seven o'clock in
the morning, and the students were often
obliged to pull their professor out of bed for
the purpose. The fact that they did so shows
at least the friendly relation existing between
teacher and scholars. With Bischoff the bot-
anist also, the young friends were admitted to
the most kindly intercourse. Many a pleas-
ant botanical excursion they had with him,
and they owed to him a thorough and skill-
ful instruction in the use of the microscope,
handled by him like a master. Tiedernann's
lectures were very learned, and Agassiz always
spoke of his old teacher in comparative anat-
omy and physiology with affectionate respect
and admiration. He was not, however, an
inspiring teacher, and though an excellent
friend to the students, they had no such in-
timate personal relations with him as with
Leuckart and Bischoff. From Bronn, the pa-
leontologist, they received an immense amount
of special information, but his instruction was
minute in details rather than suggestive in
ideas ; and they were glad when their profes-
sor, finding that the course must be shortened
for want of time, displayed to them his mag-
nificent collection of fossils, and with the help
30 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
of the specimens, developed his subject in a
more general and practical way. 1 Of the
medical professors, Nageli was the more in-
teresting, though the reputation of Chelius
brought him a larger audience. If there was
however any lack of stimulus in the lecture-
rooms, the young friends made good the de-
ficiency by their own indefatigable and intelli-
gent study of nature, seeking to satisfy their
craving for knowledge by every means within
their reach. 2
As the distance and expense made it impos-
sible for Agassiz to spend his vacations with
his family in Switzerland, it soon became the
habit for him to pass the holidays with his
new friend at Carlsruhe. For a young man
of his tastes and acquirements a more charm-
ing home-life than the one to which he was
here introduced can hardly be imagined. The
1 This collection was purchased in 1859 by the Museum
of Comparative Zoology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and
Agassiz had thus the pleasure of teaching his American pu-
pils from the very collection in which he had himself made
his first important paleontological studies.
2 The material for this account of the student life of the
two friends at Heidelberg and of their teachers was chiefly
furnished by Alexander Braun himself at the close of his
own life, after the death of Agassiz. The later sketches of
the Professors at Munich in 1832 were drawn in great part
from the same source.
VACATIONS. 31
whole atmosphere was in harmony with the
pursuits of the students. The house was sim-
ple in its appointments, but rich in books,
music, and in all things stimulating to the
thought and imagination. It stood near one
of the city gates which opened into an exten-
sive oak forest, in itself an admirable collect-
ing ground for the naturalist. At the back
certain rooms, sheltered by the spacious gar-
den from the noise of the street, were devoted
to science. In the first of these rooms the
father's rich collection of minerals was ar-
ranged, and beyond this were the laboratories
of his sons and their friends, where specimens
of all sorts, dried and living plants, micro-
scopes and books of reference, covered the
working tables. Here they brought their
treasures ; here they drew, studied, dissected,
arranged their specimens ; here they discussed
the theories, with which their young brains
were teeming, about the growth, structure,
and relations of animals and plants. 1
From this house, which became a second
home to Agassiz, he wrote to his father in
the Christmas holidays of 1826: . . . "My
happiness would be perfect were it not for
1 See Biographical Memoir of Louis Agassiz, by Arnold
Guyot, in the Proceedings of U. S. National Academy.
32 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
the painful thought which pursues me every-
where, that I live on your privations ; yet it is
impossible for me to diminish my expenses
farther. You would lift a great weight from
my heart if you could relieve yourself of this
burden by an arrangement with my uncle
at Neuchatel. I am confident that when I
have finished my studies I could easily make
enough to repay him. At all events, I know
that you cannot pay the whole at once, and
therefore in telling me frankly what are our
resources for this object you would do me
the greatest favor. Until I know that, I
cannot be at peace. Otherwise, I am well,
going on as usual, always working as hard as
I can, and I believe all the professors whose
lectures I attend are satisfied with me." . . .
His father was also pleased with his conduct
and with his progress, for about this time he
writes to a friend, " We have the best possi-
ble news of Louis. Courageous, industrious,
and discreet, he pursues honorably and vigor-
ously his aim, namely, the degree of Doctor
of Medicine and Surgery."
In the spring of 1827 Agassiz fell ill of a
typhus fever prevalent at the university as an
epidemic. His life was in danger for many
days. As soon as he could be moved, Braun
RETURN TO SWITZERLAND. 33
took him to Carlsruhe, where his conva-
lescence was carefully watched over by his
friend's mother. Being still delicate he was
advised to recruit in his native air, and he re-
turned to Orbe, accompanied by Braun, who
did not leave him till he had placed him in
safety with his parents. The following" ex-
tracts from the correspondence between him-
self and Braun give some account of this in-
terval spent at home.
AGASSIZ TO BRAUN.
ORBE, May 26, 1827.
. . . Since I have been here, I have
walked faithfully and have collected a good
number of plants which are not yet dry. I
have more than one hundred kinds, about
twenty specimens of each. As soon as they
can be taken out of the press, I '11 send you a
few specimens of each kind with a number at-
tached so that you may identify them. Take
care that you do not displace the numbers in
opening the package. Should you want more
of any particular kind let me know ; also
whether Schimper wishes for any. ... At
Neuchatel I had the good fortune to find at
least thirty specimens of Bombinator obstet-
ricans with the eggs. Tell Dr. Leuckart that
VOL. I. Q
34 LOUIS AGASSI Z.
I will bring him some, - and some for you
also. I kept several alive laid in damp moss 5
after fourteen days the eggs were almost as
large as peas, and the little tadpoles moved
about inside in all directions. The mother
stripped the eggs from her legs, and one of
the little tadpoles came out, but died for want
of water. Then I placed the whole mass of
eggs in a vessel filled with water, and be-
hold ! in about an hour some twenty young
ones were swimming freely about. I shall
spare no pains to raise them, and I hope, if
I begin aright, to make fine toads of them in
the end. My oldest sister is busy every day
in making drawings for me to illustrate their
gradual development. ... I dissect now as
much and on as great a variety of subjects
as possible. This makes my principal occu-
pation. I am often busy too with Oken. His
66 Natur- philosophic ' gives me the greatest
pleasure. I long for my box, being in need
of my books, which, no doubt, you have sent.
Meantime, I am reading something of Univer-
sal History, and am not idle, as you see. But
I miss the evenings with you and Schimper
at Heidelberg, and wish I were with you once
more. I am afraid when that happy time
does come, it will be only too short. . . .
CORRESPONDENCE WITH BRAUN. 35
BRAUN TO AGASSIZ.
HEIDELBERG, May, 1827.
. . . On Thursday evening, the 10th, I
reached Heidelberg. The medical lectures
did not begin till the second week of May, so
that I have missed little, and almost regret
having returned so soon. ... I passed the
last afternoon in Basel very pleasantly with
Herr Roepper, to whom I must soon write.
He gave me a variety of specimens, showed
me many beautiful things, and told me much
that was instructive. He is a genuine and ex-
cellent botanist, and no mere collector like the
majority. Neither is he purely an observer
like Dr. Bischoff, but a man who thinks. . . .
Dr. Leuckart is in raptures about the eggs of
the " Hebammen Krote/' and will raise them.
. . . Schweiz takes your place in our erudite
evening meetings. I have been lecturing lately
on the metamorphosis of plants, and Schimper
has propounded an entirely new and very inter-
esting theory, which will, no doubt, find favor
with you hereafter, about the significance of
the circular and longitudinal fibres in organ-
isms. Schimper is fruitful as ever in poetical
and philosophical ideas, and has just now ven-
tured upon a natural history of the mind. We
36 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
have introduced mathematics also, and he has
advanced a new hypothesis about comets and
their long tails. . . . Our chief botanical
occupation this summer is the careful obser-
vation of all our plants, even the commonest,
and the explanation of whatever is unusual
or enigmatical in their structure. We have
already cracked several such nuts, but many
remain to be opened. All such puzzling speci-
mens are spread on single sheets and set aside.
. . . But more of this when we are together
again. . . . Dr. Leuckart begs you to study
carefully the " Hebammen Unke ; " l to no-
tice whether the eggs are already fecundated
when they are in the earth, or whether they
copulate later in the water, or whether the
young are hatched on land, and what is their
tadpole condition, etc. All this is still un-
known. . . .
AGASSIZ TO BRAUN.
ORBE, June 10, 1827.
. . . Last week I made a very pleasant
excursion. You will remember that I have
often spoken to you of Pastor Mellet at Vall-
orbe, who is much interested in the study of
the six-legged insects. He invited me to go
1 Bombinator obstetricans referred to in a former letter.
CORRESPONDENCE WITH BRA UN. 37
to Vallorbe with him for some days, and I
passed a week there, spending my time most
agreeably. We went daily on a search after
insects ; the booty was especially rich in bee-
tles and butterflies. ... I examined also M.
Mellet's own most excellent collection of bee-
tles and butterflies very carefully. He has
many beautiful things, but almost exclusively
Swiss or French, with a few from Brazil, in
all about 3,000 species. He gave me several,
and promises more in the autumn. . . . He
knows his beetles thoroughly, and observes
their habits, haunts, and changes (as far as he
can) admirably well. It is a pity though that
while his knowledge of species is so accurate,
he knows nothing; of distribution, classifica-
O '
tion, or general relations. I tried to convince
him that he ought to collect snails, slugs, and
other objects of natural history, in the hope
that he might gain thereby a wider insight.
But he would not listen to it ; he said he
had enough to do with his Vermire.
My brother writes me that my box has ar-
rived in Neuchatel. As I am going there
soon I will take it then. I rejoice in the
thought of being in Neuchatel, partly on ac-
count of my brother, Arnold (Guyot), and
other friends, and partly that I may study the
38 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
fishes of our Swiss lakes. The species Cypri-
nus and Corregonus with their allies, including
Salmo, are, as you know, especially difficult.
I will preserve some small specimens in alco-
hol, and, if possible, dissect one of each, in
order to satisfy myself as to their identity or
specific variety. As the same kinds have re-
ceived different names in different lakes, and
since even differences of age have led to dis-
tinct designations, I will note all this down
carefully. When I have made it clear to my-
self, I will send you a catalogue of the kinds
we possess, specifying at the same time the
lakes in which they occur. As I am on the
chapter of fishes, I will ask you : 1. What are
the gill arches ? 2. What the gill blades ? 3.
What is the bladder in fishes ? 4. What is
the cloaca in the egg - laying animals ? 5.
What signify the many fins of fishes? 6.
What is the sac which surrounds the eggs
in Bombinator obstetricans ? . . . Tell Dr.
Leuckart I have already put aside for him the
Corregonus umbla (if such it be), but can get
no Silurus glanis.
I suppose you continue to come together
now and then in the evening. . . . Make me
a sharer in your new discoveries. Have you
finished your essay on the physiology of plants,
and what do you make of it ? ...
CORRESPONDENCE WITH BRA UN. 39
BRAUN TO AGASSIZ.
CARLSRUHE, Whitsuntide, Monday, 1827.
... I am in Carlsruhe, and as the pack-
age has not gone yet, I add a note. I have
been analyzing and comparing all sorts of
plants in our garden to-day, and I wish you
had been with me. On my last sheet I send
some nuts for you to pick, some wholly, some
half, others not at ah 1 , cracked. Schimper is
lost in the great impenetrable world of suns,
with their planets, moons, and comets ; he
soars even into the region of the double stars,
the milky way, and the nebulae.
On a loose sheet come the " nuts to pick."
It contains a long list of mooted questions, a
few of which are given here to show the ex-
change of thought between Agassiz and his
friend, the one propounding zoological, the
other botanical, puzzles. Although most of
the problems were solved long ago, it is not
uninteresting to follow these young minds in
their search after the laws of structure and
growth, dimly perceived at first, but becoming
gradually clearer as they go on. The very
first questions hint at the law of Phyllotaxis,
then wholly unknown, though now it makes
40 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
a part of the most elementary instruction in
botany. 1
" 1. Where is the first diverging point of
the sterns and roots in plants, that is to say,
the first geniculurn?
66 2. How do you explain the origin of those
leaves on the stem which, not arising from
distinct geniculi, are placed spirally or scat-
tered around the stem ?
"3. Why do some plants, especially trees
(contrary to the ordinary course of develop-
ment in plants), blossom before they have put
forth leaves? (Elm-trees, willow-trees, and
fruit-trees.)
U 4. In what succession does the develop-
ment of the organs of the flower take place?
and their formation in the bud? (Com-
pare Campanula, Papaver.)
"5. What are the leaves of the Spergula?
" 6. What are the tufted leaves of various
pine-trees ? (Pinus sylvestris, Strobus, Larix,
etc. ) .
" 18. What is individuality in plants ? '
The next letter contains Agassiz's answer to
1 Botany owes to Alexander Braun and Karl Scliimper the
discovery of this law, by which leaves, however crowded, are
so arranged around the stem as to divide the space with
mathematical precision, thus giving to each leaf its fair share
of room for growth.
CORRESPONDENCE WITH BRA UN. 41
Dr. Leuckart's questions concerning the eggs
he had sent him, and some farther account of
his own observations upon them.
AGASSIZ TO BRAUN.
NEUCHATEL, June 20, 1827.
. . . Now you shall hear what I know of
the " Hebammen Krote." How the fecunda-
tion takes place I know not, but it must needs
be the same as in other kinds of the related
Bombinator ; igneus throws out almost as
many eggs hanging together in clusters as
obstetricans ; fuscus throws them out from it-
self in strings (see Roseld's illustration). ... I
have now carefully examined the egg clusters
of obstetricans ; all the eggs are in one string
and hang together. This string is a bag, in
which the eggs lie inclosed at different dis-
tances, though they seem in the empty space
to be fallen, thread-like, together. But if you
stretch the thread and press the eggs, they
change their places, and you can distinctly see
that they lie free in the bag, having their own
membranous envelopes corresponding to those
of other batrachian eggs. Surely this species
seeks the water at the time of fecundation,
for so do all batrachians, the water being in-
deed a more fitting medium for fecundation
42 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
than the air. ... It is certain that the eggs
were already fecundated when we found them
in the ground, for later, I found several not so
far advanced as those you have, and yet after
three weeks I had tadpoles from them. In
those eggs which were in the lowest stage
of development (how they may be earlier, ne-
scio), nothing was clearly visible ; they were
simply little yellow balls. After some days,
two small dark spots were to be seen mark-
ing the position of the eyes, and a longitu-
dinal streak indicated the dorsal ridge. Pres-
ently everything became more distinct ; the
mouth and the nasal opening, the eyes and
the tail, which lay in a half circle around
the body; the skin was so transparent that
the beating of the heart and the blood in the
vessels could be easily distinguished ; the yolk
and the yolk sac were meanwhile sensibly di-
minished. The movements of the little ani-
mal were now quite perceptible, they were
quick and by starts. After three or four
weeks the eggs were as large as peas; the
bags had burst at the spots where the eggs
were attached, and the little creatures filled
the egg envelopes completely. They moved
incessantly and very quickly. Now the fe-
male stripped off the eggs from her legs ; she
CORRESPONDENCE WITH BRAUN. 43
seemed very uneasy, and sprang about con-
stantly in the tank, but grew more quiet when
I threw in more water. The eggs were soon
free, and I laid them in a shallow vessel filled
with fresh water. The restlessness among
them now became greater, and behold ! like
lightning, a little tadpole slipped out of its
egg, paused astonished, gazed on the great-
ness of the world, made some philanthropic
observations, and swam quickly away. I gave
them fresh water often, and tender green
plants as well as bread to eat. They ate ea-
gerly. Up to this time their different stages
of development had been carefully drawn by
my sister. I now went to Vallorbe; they
promised at home to take care of my young
brood, but when I returned the tadpoles had
been forgotten, and I found them all dead;
not yet decayed, however, and I could there-
fore preserve them in alcohol. The gills I
have never seen, but I will watch to see
whether they are turned inward. . . .
BRAUN TO AGASSIZ.
CARLSRUHE, August 9, 1827.
. . . This is to tell you that I have deter-
mined to leave Heidelberg in the autumn and
set forth on a pilgrimage to Munich, and that
44 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
I invite you to be my traveling companion.
Judging by a circumstantial letter from Dol-
linger, the instruction in the natural sciences
leaves nothing to be desired there. Add to
this that the lectures are free, and the theatre
open to students at twenty-four kreutzers. No
lack of advantages and attractions, lodgings
hardly more expensive than at Heidelberg,
board equally cheap, beer plenty and good.
Let all this persuade you. We shall hear
Gruithuisen in popular astronomy, Schubert
in general natural history, Martius in botany,
Euchs in mineralogy, Seiber in mathematics,
Starke in physics, Oken in everything (he
lectures in winter on the philosophy of nature,
natural history, and physiology). The clinical
instruction will be good. We shall soon be
friends with all the professors. The library
contains whatever is best in botany and zool-
ogy, and the collections open to the public
are very rich. It is not known whether Schel-
linof will lecture, but at all events certain of
O '
the courses will be of great advantage. Then
little vacation trips to the Salzburg and Carin-
thian Alps are easily made from there ! Write
soon whether you will go and drink Bavarian
beer and Schnapski with me, and write also
when we are to see you in Heidelberg and
PLANS FOR MUNICH. 45
Carlsruhe. Remind me then to tell you about
the theory of the root and poles in plants.
As soon as I have your answer we will be-
speak our lodgings from Dollinger, who will
attend to that for us. Shall we again house
together in one room, or shall we have sepa-
rate cells in one comb, namely, under the same
roof ? The latter has its advantages for grass-
gatherers and stone-cutters like ourselves. . . .
Hammer away industriously at all sorts of
rocks. I have collected at Auerbach, Wein-
heim, Wiesloch, etc. But before all else, ob-
serve carefully and often the wonderful struc-
ture of plants, those lovely children of the
earth and sky. Ponder them with child-like
mind, for children marvel at the phenomena
of nature, while grown people often think
themselves too wise to wonder, and yet they
know little more than the children. But the
thoughtful student recognizes the truth of the
child's feeling, and with his knowledge of
nature his wonder does but grow more and
more. . . .
CHAPTER II.
1827-1828: JST. 20-21.
Arrival in Munich. Lectures. Relations with the Pro-
fessors. Schelling, Martius, Oken, Dollinger. Relations
with Fellow-Students. The Little Academy. Plans for
Traveling. Advice from his Parents. Vacation Journey.
Tri-Centennial Diirer Festival at Nuremberg.
AGASSIZ accepted with delight his friend's
proposition, and toward the end of October,
1827, he and Braun left Carlsruhe together
for the University of Munich, His first letter
to his brother is given in full, for though it
contains crudities at which the writer himself
would have smiled in after life, it is interest-
ing as showing what was the knowledge pos-
sessed in those days by a clever, well-informed
student of natural history.
TO HIS BROTHER AUGUSTS.
MUNICH, November 5, 1827.
... At last I am in Munich. I have so
much to tell you that I hardly know where to
begin. To be sure that I forget nothing,
LETTER TO HIS BROTHER. 47
however, I will give things in their regular se-
quence. First, then, the story of my journey ;
after that, I will tell you what I am doing
here. As papa has, of course, shown you my
last letter, I will continue where I left off. . . .
From Carlsruhe we traveled post to Stutt-
gart, where we passed the greater part of the
day in the Museum, in which I saw many
things quite new to me ; a llama, for instance,
almost as large as an ass. You know that
this animal, which is of the genus Camelus,
lives in South America, where it is to the
natives what the camel is to the Arab; that
is to say, it provides them with milk, wool,
and meat, and is used by them, moreover,
for driving and riding. There was a North
American buffalo of immense size; also an
elephant from Africa, and one from Asia ; be-
side these, a prodigious number of gazelles,
deer, cats, and dogs ; skeletons of a hippo-
potamus and an elephant ; and lastly the fossil
bones of a mammoth. You know that the
mammoth is no longer found living, and that
the remains hitherto discovered lead to the
belief that it was a species of carnivorous ele-
phant. It is a singular fact that some fisher-
men, digging recently on the borders of the
Obi, in Siberia, found one of these animals
48 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
frozen in a mass of ice, at a depth of sixty
feet, so well preserved that it was still covered
with hair, as in life. They melted the ice to
remove the animal, but the skeleton alone re-
mained complete ; the hide was spoiled by con-
tact with the air, and only a few pieces have
been kept, one of which is in the Museum at
Stuttgart. The hairs upon it are as coarse as
fine twine, and nearly a foot long 1 . The entire
skeleton is at St. Petersburg in the Museum,
and is larger than the largest elephant. One
may judge by that what havoc such an ani-
mal must have made, if it was, as its teeth
show it to have been, carnivorous. But what
I would like to know is how this animal could
wander so far north, and then in what man-
ner it died, to be frozen thus, and remain in-
tact, without decomposing, perhaps for count-
less ages. For it must have belonged to a
former creation, since it is nowhere to be
found living, and we have no instance of the
disappearance of any kind of animal within
the historic period. There were, besides,
many other kinds of fossil animals. The col-
lection of birds is very beautiful, but it is a
pity that many of them are wrongly named.
I corrected a number myself. . . . From
Stuttgart we went to Esslingen, where we
LETTER TO HIS BROTHER. 49
were to visit two famous botanists. One was
Herr Steudel ; a sombre face, with long over-
hanging black hair, almost hiding the eyes,
a very Jewish face. He knows every book
on botany that appears, has read them all,
but cares little to see the plants themselves ;
in short, he is a true closet student. He has
a large herbarium, composed in great part of
plants purchased or received as gifts. The
other, Professor Hochstetter, is an odd little
man, stepping briskly about in his high boots,
and having always a half suppressed smile on
his lips whenever he takes the pipe from be-
tween his teeth. A very good man, however,
and extremely obliging ; he offered us every
civility. As w r e desired not only to make their
acquaintance, but to win from these bota-
nists at least a few grasses, we presented our-
selves like true commis voyageurs, with dried
herbs to sell, each of us having a package
of plants under his arm, mine being Swiss,
gathered last summer, Braun's from the Pa-
O '
latinate. We gave specimens to each, and
received in exchange from Steudel some Amer-
ican plants ; from Hochstetter some from Bo-
hemia, and others from Moravia, his native
country. From Esslingen we were driven to
Goeppingen, in the most frightful weather
VOL. I.
50 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
possible ; it rained, snowed, froze, blew, all
at once. It was a pity, since our road lay
through one of the prettiest valleys I have
ever seen, watered by the Neckar, and bor-
dered on both sides by mountains of singular
form and of considerable height. They are
what the Wurtembergers call the Suabian
Alps, but I think that Chaumont is higher
than the loftiest peak of their Alps. Here we
found an old Heidelberg acquaintance, whose
father owns a superb collection of fossils, es-
pecially of shells and zoophytes. He has also
quite a large collection of shells from the
Adriatic Sea, but among these last not one
was named. As we knew them, we made it
our duty to arrange them, and in three hours
his whole collection was labeled. Since he
has duplicates of almost everything, he prom-
ised, as soon as he should have time, to make
a selection from these and send them to us.
Could we have stayed longer we might have
picked out what we pleased, for he placed his
collection at our disposal. But we were in
haste to arrive here, so we begged him to send
us, at his leisure, whatever he could give us.
Thence we continued our journey by post,
because it still rained, and the roads were so
detestable that with the best will in the world
LETTER TO HIS BROTHER. 51
we could not have made our way on foot. In
the evening we reached Ulm, where, owing to
the late hour, we saw almost nothing except
the famous belfry of the cathedral, which
was distinctly visible as we entered the city.
After supper we continued our journey, still
by post, wishing to be in Munich the next
day. I have never seen anything more beau-
tiful than the view as we left Ulm. The
moon had risen and shone upon the belfry
like broad daylight. On all sides extended a
wide plain, unbroken by a single inequality,
so far as the eye could distinguish, and cut
by the Danube, glittering in the moonbeams.
We crossed the plain during the night, and
reached Augsburg at dawn. It is a beautiful
city, but we merely stopped there for break-
fast, and saw the streets only as we passed
through them. On leaving Augsburg, the
Tyrolean Alps, though nearly forty leagues
away, were in sight. About eighteen leagues
off was also discernible an immense forest ; of
this we had a nearer view as we advanced, for
it encircles Munich at some distance from the
town. We arrived here on Sunday, the 4th,
in the afternoon. . . . My address is opposite
the Sendlinger Thor No. 37. I have a very
pretty chamber on the lower floor with an al-
52 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
cove for my bed. The house is situated out-
side the town, on a promenade, which makes
it very pleasant. Moreover, by walking less
than a hundred yards, I reach the Hospital
and the Anatomical School, a great conven-
ience for me when the winter weather begins.
One thing gives me great pleasure : from one
of my windows the whole chain of the Tyrol-
ean Alps is visible as far as Appenzell ; and
as the country is flat to their very base, I see
them better than we see our Alps from the
plain. It is a great pleasure to have at least
a part of our Swiss mountains always in sight.
To enjoy it the more, I have placed my table
opposite the window, so that every time I lift
my head my eyes rest on our dear country.
This does not prevent me from feeling dull
sometimes, especially when I am alone, but I
hope this will pass off when my occupations
become more regular. . . .
A far more stimulating intellectual life than
that of Heidelberg awaited our students at
Munich. Among their professors were some
of the most original men of the day, men
whose influence was felt all over Europe.
Dollinger lectured on comparative anatomy
and kindred subjects ; Martius and Zuccarini
RELATIONS WITH PROFESSORS. 53
on botany. Martius gave, besides, his so-
called " Reise-Colleg," in which he instructed
the students how to observe while on their
travels. Schelling taught philosophy, the ti-
tles of his courses in the first term being, " In-
troduction to Philosophy ' and " The Ages
of the World " ; in the second, The Philos-
ophy of Mythology ' and " The Philosophy
of Revelation." Schelling made a strong im-
pression upon the friends. His manner was
as persuasive as his style was clear, and his
mode of developing his subject led his hear-
ers along with a subtle power which did not
permit fatigue. Oken lectured on general nat-
ural history, physiology, and zoology, includ-
ing his famous views on the philosophy of na-
ture (Natur -philosophic). His lectures gave
occasion for much scientific discussion, the
more so as he brought very startling hypoth-
eses into his physiology, and drew from them
conclusions which even upon his own showing
were not always in accordance with experi-
ence. " On philosophical grounds," he was
wont to say, when facts and theory thus con-
fronted each other, "we must so accept it."
Oken was extremely friendly with the stu-
dents, and Agassiz, Braun, and Schimper (who
joined them at Munich) passed an evening
54 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
once a week at his house, where they listened
to scientific papers or discussed scientific mat-
ters, over a pipe and a glass of beer. They
also met once a week to drink tea at the
house of Professor von Martius, where, in
like manner, the conversation turned upon
scientific subjects, unless something interest-
ing in general events gave it a different turn.
Still more beloved was Dollinger, whose char-
acter they greatly esteemed and admired while
they delighted in his instruction. Not only
did they go to him daily, but he also came
often to see them, bringing botanical speci-
mens to Braun, or looking in upon Agassiz's
breeding experiments, in which he took the
liveliest interest, being always ready with ad-
vice or practical aid. The fact that Agassiz
and Braun had their room in his house made
intercourse with him especially easy. This
room became the rendezvous of all the as-
piring, active spirits among the young natural-
ists at Munich, and was known by the name
of " The Little Academy." Schimper, no
less than the other two, contributed to the
vivid enthusiastic intellectual life which char-
acterized their meetings. Not so happy as
Agassiz and Braun in his later experience,
the promise of his youth was equally brilliant ;
DAILY LIFE AT THE UNIVERSITY. 55
and those who knew him in those early days
remember his charm of mind and manner
with delight. The friends gave lectures in
turn on various subjects, especially on modes
of- development in plants and animals. These
lectures were attended not only by students,
but often by the professors.
Among Agassiz's intimate friends in Mu-
nich, beside those already mentioned, was Mi-
chahelles, the distinguished young zoologist
and physician, whose early death in Greece,
where he went to practice medicine, was so
much regretted. Like Agassiz, he was wont
to turn his room into a menagerie, where he
kept turtles and other animals, brought home,
for the most part, from his journeys in Italy
and elsewhere. Mahir, whose name occurs
often in the letters of this period, was an-
other college friend and fellow-student, though
seemingly Agassiz's senior in standing, if not
in years, for he gave him private instruction
in mathematics, and also assisted him in his
medical studies.
TO HIS SISTER CECILE.
*
MUNICH, November 20, 1827.
... I will tell you in detail how my time
is spent, so that when you think of me you
56 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
may know where I am and what I am do-
ing. In the morning from seven to nine I
am at the Hospital. From nine to eleven I
go to the Library, where I usually work at
that time instead of going home. From
eleven till one o'clock I have lectures, after
which I dine, sometimes at one place, some-
times at another, for here every one, that is,
every foreigner, takes his meals in the cafs,
paying for the dinner on the spot, so that he
is not obliged to go always to the same place.
In the afternoon I have other lectures on
various subjects, according to the days, from
two or three till five o'clock. These ended,
I take a walk although it is then dark. The
environs of Munich are covered with snow,
and the people have been going about in
sleighs these three weeks. When I am frozen
o
through I come home, and set to work to re-
view my lectures of the clay, or I write and
read till eight or nine o'clock. Then I go
to my cafe for supper. After supper I am
glad to return to the house and go to bed.
This is the course of my daily life, with
the single exception that sometimes Braun
and I pass an evening with some professor,
discussing with all our might and main sub-
jects of which we often know nothing ; this
LETTER TO HIS BROTHER. 57
does not, however, lessen the animation of the
talk. More often, these gentlemen tell us of
their travels, etc. I enjoy especially our visits
to M. Martius, because he talks to us of his
journey to Brazil, from which he returned
some years ago, bringing magnificent collec-
tions, which he shows us whenever we cah 1
upon him. Friday is market day here, and I
never miss going to see the fishes to increase
my collection. I have already obtained sev-
eral not to be found in Switzerland ; and even
in my short stay here I have had the good
fortune to discover a new species, of which
I have made a very exact description, to be
printed in some journal of natural history.
Were my dear Cecile here, I should have
begged her to draw it nicely for me. That
would have been pleasant indeed. Now I
must ask a stranger to do it, and it will have
by no means the same value in my eyes. . . .
TO HIS BROTHER AUGUSTE.
MUNICH, December 26, 1827.
. . . After my long fast from news of you,
your letter made me very happy. I was
dull besides, and needed something to cheer
me. . . . Since my talk about natural history
does not bore you, I want to tell you various
58 LOUIS AGASS1Z.
other things about it, and also to ask you to
do me a favor. I have stuffed a superb otter
lately ; next week I shall receive a beaver, and
I have exchanged all my little toads from
Neuchatel for reptiles from Brazil and Java.
One of our professors here, who is publishing
a natural history of reptiles, will introduce in
his work my description of that species, and
my observations upon it. He has already had
lithographed those drawings of eggs that
Cecile made for me, as well as the colored
drawings made for me by Braun's sister when
I was at Carlsruhe. My collection of fishes
is also much increased, but I have no dupli-
cates left of the species I brought with me.
I have exchanged them all. I should there-
fore be greatly obliged if you would get me
some more of the same. I will tell you what
kinds I want, and how you are to forward
them. I have still at Cudrefin several jars of
thick green glass. When you go there take
them away with you, fill them with alcohol,
and put into them as many of these fishes as
you can find for me. Put something between
every two specimens, to prevent them from
rubbing against each other ; pack them in a
little box wrapped in hay, and send them
either by a good opportunity or in the least
LETTER TO HIS BROTHER. 59
expensive way. The kinds I want are [here
follows the list]. ... It will interest you to
know that I am working with a young Dr.
Born upon an anatomy and natural history
of the fresh-water fishes of Europe. We have
already gathered a great deal of material, and
I think by the spring, or in the course of
the summer, we shall be able to publish the
first number. This will bring in a little ready
money for a short journey in the vacation.
I earnestly advise you to while away your
leisure hours with study. Read much, but
only good and useful books. I promised to
send you something ; do not think, because I
have not done so yet, that I have forgotten
it. On the contrary, the difficulty of choos-
ing is the cause of the delay; but I will
make farther inquiry as to what will suit
you best and you shall have my list. Mean-
time remember to read Say, and if you have
not already begun it, do not put it off. Re-
member that statistical and political knowl-
edge alone distinguishes the true merchant
from the mere tradesman, and guides him in
his undertakings. ... A merchant familiar
with the products of a country, its resources,
its commercial and political relations with
other countries, is much less likely to enter
60 LOUIS AGASS1Z.
into speculations based on false ideas, and
therefore of doubtful issue. Write me about
what you are reading and about your plans
and projects, for I can hardly believe that any
one could exist without forming them : I, at
least, could not. . . .
The last line of this letter betrays the rest-
less spirit of adventure growing out of the
desire for larger fields of activity and re-
search. Tranquilized for a while in the new
and more satisfying intellectual life of Munich,
it stirred afresh from time to time, not with-
out arousing anxiety in friends at home, as
we shall see. The letter to which the follow-
ing is an answer has not been found.
FKOM HIS MOTHER.
ORBE, January 8, 1828.
. . . Your letter reached me at Cudrefin,
where I have been passing ten days. With
what pleasure I received it, and yet I read
it with a certain sadness too, for there was
something of ennui, I might say of discon-
tent, in the tone. . . . Believe me, my dear
Louis, your attitude is a wrong one ; you see
everything in shadow. Consider that you are
exactly in the position you have chosen for
CORRESPONDENCE WITH HIS MOTHER. 61
yourself; we have in no way opposed your
plans. We have, on the contrary, entered
into them with readiness, saying amen to your
proposals, only insisting upon a profession
that would make us easy about your future,
persuaded as we are that you have too much
energy and uprightness not to wish to fill
honorably your place in society. You left us
a few months ago with the assurance that two
o
years would more than suffice to complete
your medical studies. You chose the univer-
sity which offered, as you thought, the most
ample means to reach your end ; and now,
how is it that you look forward only with dis-
taste to the practice of medicine ? Have you
reflected seriously before setting aside this
profession ? Indeed, we cannot consent to
such a step. You would lose ground in our
opinion, in that of your family, and in that of
the public. You would pass for an inconsid-
erate, fickle young fellow, and the slightest
stain on your reputation would be a mortal
blow to us. There is one way of reconciling
all difficulties, the only one in my opinion.
Complete your studies with all the zeal of
which you are capable, and then, if you have
still the same inclination, go on with your
natural history ; give yourself wholly up to it
62 LOUIS AGASS1Z.
should that be your wish. Having two strings
to your bow, you will have the greater facil-
ity for establishing yourself. Such is your
father's way of thinking as well as mine. . . .
Nor are you made to live alone, my child.
In a home only is true happiness to be found ;
there you can settle yourself to your liking.
The sooner you have finished your studies, the
sooner you can put up your tent, catch your
blue butterfly, and metamorphose her into a
loving housewife. Of course you will not
gather roses without thorns ; life consists of
pains and pleasures everywhere. To do all
the good you can to your fellow-beings, to
have a pure conscience, to gain an honorable
livelihood, to procure for yourself by work a
little ease, to make those around you happy,
that is true happiness ; all the rest but
mere accessories and chimeras.
TO HIS MOTHER.
MUNICH, February 3, 1828.
. . . You know well to whom you speak,
dear mother, and how you must bait your
hook in order that the fish may rise. When
you paint it, I see nothing above domestic
happiness, and am convinced that the height
of felicity is to be found in the bosom of your
CORRESPONDENCE WITH HIS MOTHER. 63
family, surrounded by little marmots to love
and caress you. I hope, too, to enjoy this hap-
piness in time. ... But the man of letters
should seek repose only when he has deserved
it by his toil, for if once he anchor himself,
farewell to energy and liberty, by which alone
great minds are fostered. Therefore I have
said to myself, that I would remain unmarried
till rny work should assure me a peaceful and
happy future. A young man has too much
vigor to bear confinement so soon ; he gives
up many pleasures which he might have had,
and does not appreciate at their just value
those which he has. As it is said that the
vaurien must precede the bon sujet, so I be-
lieve that for the full enjoyment of sedentary
life one must have played the vagabond for
a while.
This brings me to the subject of my last
letter. It seems that you have misunderstood
me, for your answer grants me after all just
what I ask. You think that I wish to re-
nounce entirely the study of medicine? On
the contrary, the idea has never occurred to
me, and, according to my promise, you shall
have one of these days a doctor of medicine
as a son. What repels me is the thought of
practicing medicine for a livelihood, and here
64 LOUIS AGASSI Z.
you give nie free rein just where I wanted it.
That is, you consent that I should devote my-
self wholly to the natural sciences should this
career offer me, as I hope it may, a more favor-
able prospect. It requires, for instance, but
two or three years to go around the world at
government expense. I will levy contribu-
tions on all my senses that not a single chance
may escape me for making interesting ob-
servations and fine collections, so that I also
may be ranked among those who have en-
larged the boundaries of science. With that
my future is secured, and I shall return con-
tent and disposed to do all that you wish.
Even then, if medicine had gained greater at-
traction for me, there would still be time to
begin the practice of it. It seems to me there
is nothing impracticable in this plan. I beg
you to think of it, and to talk it over with
papa and with my uncle at Lausanne. ... I
am perfectly well and as happy as possible,
for I feed in clover here on my favorite stud-
ies, with every facility at my command. If
you thought my New Year's letter depressed,
it was only a momentary gloom due to the
memories awakened by the day. . . .
LETTER FROM HIS FATHER. 65
FROM HIS FATHER.
ORBE, February 21, 1828.
Your mother's last letter, my dear Louis,
was in answer to one from you which crossed
it on the way, and gave us, so far as your
health and contentment are concerned, great
satisfaction. Yet our gratification lacks some-
thing; it would be more complete had you
not a mania for rushing full gallop into the
future. I have often reproved you for this,
and you would fare better did you pay more
attention to my reproof. If it be an incur-
able malady with you, at all events do not
force your parents to share it. If it be ab-
solutely essential to your happiness that you
should break the ice of the two poles in order
to find the hairs of a mammoth, or that you
should dry your shirt in the sun of the trop-
ics, at least wait till your trunk is packed and
your passports are signed before you talk with
us about it. Begin by reaching your first
aim, a physician's and surgeon's diploma. I
will not for the present hear of anything else,
and that is more than enough. Talk to us,
then in your letters, of your friends, of your
personal life, of your wants (which I am al-
ways ready to satisfy), of your pleasures, of
VOL. I.
66 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
your feeling for us, but do not put yourself
out of our reach with your philosophical syl-
logisms. My own philosophy is to fulfill my
duties in my sphere, and even that gives me
more than I can do. ...
The Vaudois " Society of Public Utility "
has just announced an altogether new project,
that of establishing popular libraries. A com-
mittee consisting of eight members, of whom
I have the honor to be one, is nominated un-
der the presidency of M. Delessert for the
execution of this scheme. What do you
think of the idea? To me it seems a delicate
matter. I should say that before we insist
upon making people read we must begin by
preparing them to read usefully ? . . .
TO HIS FATHER.
MUNICH, March 3, 1828.
. . . What you tell me of the " Society of
Public Utility ' ' has aroused in me a throng of
ideas, about which I will write you when they
are .a little more mature. Meanwhile, please
tell me : 1. What is this Society ? 2. Of
what persons is it composed? 3. What is its
principal aim ? 4. What are the popular li-
braries to contain, and for what class are they
intended ? I believe this project may be of
LETTER TO HIS FATHER. 67
the greatest service to our people, and it is on
this account that I desire farther details that
I may think it over carefully. Tell me, also,
in what way you propose to distribute your
libraries at small expense, and how large they
are to be. ...
I could not be more satisfied than I am with
my stay here. I lead a monotonous but an
exceedingly pleasant life, withdrawn from the
crowd of students and seeing them but little.
When our lectures are over we meet in the
evening at Braun's room or mine, with three
or four intimate acquaintances, and talk of
scientific matters, each one in his turn present-
ing a subject which is first developed by him,
and then discussed by all. These exercises
are very instructive. As my share, I have
begun to give a course of natural history, or
rather of pure zoology. Braun talks to us of
botany, and another of our company, Mahir,
who is an excellent fellow, teaches us mathe-
matics and physics in his turn. In two
months our friend Schimper, whom we left at
Heidelberg, will join us, and he will then be
our professor of philosophy. Thus we shall
form a little university, instructing each other
and at the same time learning what we teach
more thoroughly because we shall be obliged
68 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
to demonstrate it. Each session lasts two or
three hours, during which the professor in
charge retails his merchandise without aid of
notes or book. You can imagine how useful
this must be in preparing us to speak in public
and with coherence ; the experience is the
more important, since we all desire nothing so
much as sooner or later to become professors
in very truth, after having played at professor
in the university.
This brings me naturally to my projects
again. Your letter made me feel so keenly
the anxiety I had caused you by my passion
for travel, that I will not recur to it ; but as
my object was to make in that way a name
that would win for me a professorship, I ven-
ture upon another proposition. If during the
course of my studies I succeed in making my-
self known by a work of distinction, will you
not then consent that I shall study, at least
during one year, the natural sciences alone,
and then accept a professorship of natural his-
tory, with the understanding that in the first
place, and in the time agreed upon, I shall
take my Doctor's degree ? This is, indeed,
essential to my obtaining what I wish, at least
in Germany. You will object that, before
thinking of anything beyond, I ought first to
LETTER FROM HIS FATHER. 69
fulfill the condition. But let me say that the
more clearly a man sees the road before him,
the less likely he is to lose his way or take the
wrong turn, the better he can divide his
stages and his resting-places. . . .
FROM HIS FATHER.
ORBE, March 25, 1828.
... I have had a long talk about you
with your uncle. He does not at all disap-
prove of your letters, of which I told him the
contents. He only insists, as we do, on the
necessity of a settled profession as absolutely
essential to your financial position. Indeed,
the natural sciences, however sublime and at-
tractive, offer nothing certain in the future.
They may, no doubt, be your golden bridge,
or you may, thanks to them, soar very high,
but modern Icarus may not also some
adverse fortune, an unexpected loss of popu-
larity, or, perhaps, some revolution fatal to
your philosophy, bring you down with a som-
ersault, and then you would not be sorry to
find in your quiver the means of gaining
your bread. Agreed that you have now an
invincible repugnance to the practice of med-
icine, it is evident from your last two letters
that you would have no less objection to any
70 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
other profession by which money is to be
made, and, besides, it is too late to make an-
other selection. This being so, we will come
to an understanding in one word : Let the
sciences be the balloon in which you pre-
pare to travel through higher regions, but let
medicine and surgery be your parachutes. I
think, my dear Louis, you cannot object to
this way of looking at the question and decid-
ing it. In making my respects to the pro-
fessor of zoology, I have the pleasure to tell
him that his uncle was delighted with his way
of passing his evenings, and congratulates him
with all his heart on his choice of a recreation.
Enough of this chapter. I close it here, wish-
ing you most heartily courage, health, success,
and, above all, contentment. . . .
Upon this follows the answer to Louis's re-
quest for details about the " Society of Public
Utility." It shows the intimate exchange of
thought between father and son on educa-
tional subjects, but it is of too local an inter-
est for reproduction here.
The Easter vacation was devoted to a short
journey, some account of which will be found
in the next letter. The traveling party con-
sisted of Agassiz, Braun, and Schimper, with
LETTER TO HIS FATHER. 71
two other students, who did not, however, re-
main with them during the whole trip.
TO HIS FATHER.
MUNICH, May 15, 1828.
. . . Pleasant as my Easter journey was, I
will give you but a brief account of it, for
my enjoyment was so connected with my spe-
cial studies that the details would only be tire-
some to you. You know who were my travel-
ing companions, so I have only to tell you of
our adventures, assuredly not those of knights
errant or troubadours. Could these gentry
have been resuscitated, and have seen us start-
ing forth in blouses, with bags or botanical
boxes at our backs and butterfly-nets in our
hands, instead of lance and buckler, they
could hardly have failed to look down upon
us with pity from the height of their grand-
eur.
The first day brought us to Landshut,
where was formerly the university till it was
transferred, ten years ago, to Munich. We
had the pleasure of finding along our road
most of the early spring plants. The weather
was magnificent, and nature seemed to smile
upon her votaries. . . . We stopped on the
way but one day, at Ratisbon, to visit some
72 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
relations of Braun's, with whom we promised
to spend several days on our return. Learn-
ing on our arrival at Nuremberg that the
Durer festival, which had been our chief in-
ducement for this journey, would not take
place under eight or ten days, we decided to
pass the intervening time at Erlangen, the
seat, as you know, of a university. I do not
know if I have already told you that among
German students the exercise of hospitality
toward those who exchange visits from one
university to another is a sacred custom. It
gives offense, or is at least looked upon as
a mark of pride and disdain, if you do not
avail yourself of this. We therefore went to
one of the cafes de reunion, and received at
once our tickets for lodgings. We passed six
days at Erlangen most agreeably, making a bo-
tanical excursion every day. We also called
upon the professors of botany and zoology,
whom we had already seen at Munich, and by
whom we were most cordially received. The
professor of botany, M. Koch, invited us to
a very excellent dinner, and gave us many rare
plants not in our possession before, while M.
Wagner was kind enough to show us in detail
the Museum and the Library.
At last came the day appointed for the
LETTER TO HIS FATHER. 73
third centennial festival of Dtirer. Every-
thing was so arranged as to make it very bril-
liant, and the weather was most favorable. I
doubt if ever before were collected so many
painters in the same place. They gathered,
as if to vie with each other, from all nations,
Russians, Italians, French, Germans, etc. Be-
side the pupils of the Academy of Fine Arts
at Munich, I think that every soul who could
paint, were it only the smallest sketch, was
there to pay homage to the great master. All
went in procession to the place where the
monument is to be raised, and the magistrates
of the city laid the first stones of the pedestal.
To my amusement they cemented these first
stones with a mortar which was served in
great silver platters, and made of fine pounded
porcelain mixed with champagne. In the
evening all the streets were illuminated ; there
O '
were balls, concerts, and plays, so that we
must have been doubled or quadrupled to see
everything. We stayed some days longer at
Nuremberg to visit the other curiosities of
the city, especially its beautiful churches, its
manufactories, etc., and then started on our
return to Ratisbon.
CHAPTER III.
1828-1829: ^ET. 21-22.
First Important Work in Natural History. Spix's Brazilian
Fishes. Second Vacation Trip. Sketch of Work during
University Year. Extracts from the Journal of Mr.
Dinkel. Home Letters. Hope of joining Humboldt's
Asiatic Expedition. Diploma of Philosophy. Comple-
tion of First Part of the Spix Fishes. Letter concerning
it from Cuvier.
IT was not without a definite purpose that
Agassiz had written to his father some weeks
before, " Should I during the course of my
studies succeed in making myself known by a
distinguished work, would you not then con-
sent that I should study for one year the
natural sciences alone ? ' Unknown to his
parents, for whom he hoped to prepare a de-
lightful surprise, Agassiz had actually been
engaged for months on the first work which
gave him distinction in the scientific world ;
namely, a description of the Brazilian fishes
brought home by Martius and Spix from their
celebrated journey in Brazil. This was the
secret to which allusion is made in the next
LETTER TO HIS BROTHER. 75
letter. To his disappointment an accident
brought his undertaking to the knowledge of
his father and mother before it was completed.
He always had a boyish regret that his little
plot had been betrayed before the moment for
the denouement arrived. The book was writ-
ten in Latin and dedicated to Cuvier. 1
TO HIS BROTHER.
MUNICH, July 27, 1828.
. . . Various things which I have begun
keep me a prisoner here. Probably I shall
not stir during the vacation, and shall even
give up the little trip in the Tyrol, which I
had thought of making as a rest from occu-
pations that bind me very closely at present,
but from which I hope to free myself in the
course of the holidays. Don't be angry with
me for not telling you at once what they are.
When you know, I hope to be forgiven for
keeping you so long in the dark. I have
kept it a secret from papa too, though in his
last letter he asks me what is my especial
work just now. A few months more of pa-
tience, and I will give you a strict account of
1 Selecta genera et species piscium quos collegit et pingendos
curavit Dr. J. W. de Spix. Digessit, descripsit et observa-
tionibus illustravit Dr. L. Agassiz.
76 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
my time since I came here, and then I am
sure you will be satisfied with me. I only
wish to guard against one thing : do not take
it into your head that I am about to don the
fool's cap suddenly and surprise you with a
Doctor's degree ; that would be going a lit-
tle too fast, nor do I think of it yet. ... I
want to remind you not to let the summer
pass without getting me fishes according to
the list in my last letter, which I hope you
have not mislaid. You would give me great
pleasure by sending them as soon as possible.
Let me tell you why. M. Cuvier has an-
nounced the publication of a complete work
on all the known fishes, and in the prospectus
he calls on such naturalists as occupy them-
selves with ichthyology to send him the fishes
of the country where they live ; he mentions
those who have already sent him collections,
and promises duplicates from the Paris Mu-
seum to those who will send him more. He
names the countries also from which he has
received contributions, and regrets that he has
nothing from Bavaria. Now I possess sev-
eral specimens of all the native species, and
have even discovered some ten not hitherto
known to occur here, beside one completely
new to science, which I have named Cyprinus
LETTER FROM HIS BROTHER. 77
uranoscopus on account of the position of the
eyes, placed on the top instead of the sides of
the head, otherwise very like the gudgeon.
I have therefore thought I could not better
launch myself in the scientific world than by
sending Cuvier my fishes with the observa-
tions I have made on their natural history.
To these I should like to add such rare Swiss
species as you can procure for me. So do not
fail.
FROM HIS BROTHER.
NEUCHATEL, August 25, 1828.
... I received in good time, and with in-
finite delight, your pleasant letter of July
27th. Its mysteries have however been un-
veiled by Dr. Schinz, who came to the meet-
ing of the Natural History Society in Lau-
sanne, where he met papa and uncle, to
whom he pronounced the most solemn eulo-
giums on their son and nephew, telling them
at the same time what was chiefly occupy-
ing you now. I congratulate you, my dear
brother, but I confess that among us all I
am the least surprised, for my presentiments
about you outrun all this, and I hope soon
to see them realized. In all frankness I can
assure you that the stoutest antagonists of
your natural history schemes begin to come
78 LOUIS AGASS1Z.
over to your side. Among them is my uncle
here, who never speaks of you now but with
enthusiasm. What more can be said ? I gave
him your letter to read, and since then he has
asked me a dozen times at least if I had not
forgotten to forward the remittance you asked
for, saying that I must not delay it. The truth
is, I have deferred writing till the last mo-
ment, because I have not succeeded in getting
your fishes, and have always been hoping that
I might be able to fulfill your commission. I
busied myself on your behalf with all the zeal
and industry of which I was capable, but
quite in vain. The devil seemed to be in it.
The season of Bondelles was over two months
ago, and there are none to be seen ; as to
trout, I don't believe one has been eaten in
the whole town for six weeks. I am forever
at the heels of the fishermen, promising them
double and treble the value of the fish I want,
but they all tell me they catch nothing except
pike. I have been to Cudrefin for lampreys,
but found nothing. Rodolphe l has been pad-
dling in the brook every day without success.
I went to Sauge, no eels, no anything but
perch and a few little cat-fish. Two mortal
Sundays did I spend, rod in hand, trying to
1 An experienced old boatman.
THE SP1X FISHES. 79
catch bream, chubs, etc. I did get a few, but
they were not worth sending. Now it is all
over for this year, and we may as well put on
mourning for them ; but I promise you that
as soon as the spring opens I will go to work,
and you shall have all you want. If, in spite
of everything, your hopes are not realized, I
shall be very sorry, but rest assured that it is
not my fault. . . .
TO HIS SISTER CECILE.
MUNICH, October 29, 1828.
... I have never written you about what
has engrossed me so deeply ; but since my
secret is out, I ought not to keep silence
longer. That you may understand why I
have entered upon such a work I will go back
to its origin. In 1817 the King of Bavaria
sent two naturalists, M. Martins and M. Spix,
on an exploring expedition to Brazil. Of
M. Martins, with whom I always spend my
Wednesday evenings, I have often spoken to
you. In 1821 these gentlemen returned to
their country laden with new discoveries, which
they published in succession. M. Martins is-
sued colored illustrations of all the unknown
plants he had collected on his journey, while
M. Spix brought out several folio volumes
80 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
on the monkeys, birds, and reptiles of Brazil,
the animals being drawn and colored, chiefly
life-size, by able artists. It had been his in-
tention to give a complete natural history of
Brazil, but to the sorrow of all naturalists
he died in 1826. M. Martius, desirous to see
the completion of the work which his travel-
ing companion had begun, engaged a profes-
sor from Erlangen to publish the shells, and
these appeared last year. When I came to
Munich there remained only the fishes and
insects, and M. Martius, who had learned
something about me from the professors to
whom I was known, found me worthy to con-
tinue the work of Spix, and asked me to
carry on the natural history of the fishes.
I hesitated for a long time to accept this
honorable offer, fearing that the occupation
might withdraw me too much from my stud-
ies ; but, on the other hand, the opportunity
for laying the foundation of a reputation
by a large undertaking seemed too favor-
able to be refused. The first volume is al-
ready finished, and the printing was begun
some weeks ago. You can imagine the pleas-
ure I should have had in sending it to our
dear father and mother before they had
heard one word about it, or knew even of
FIRST LITERARY EFFORT. 81
the proposition. But I hope the premature
disclosure of my secret (indeed, to tell the
truth, I had not imposed silence on M. Schinz,
not dreaming that he would see any one of
the family) will not diminish your pleasure in
receiving the first work of your brother Louis,
which I hope to send you at Easter. Already
forty colored folio plates are completed. Will
it not seem strange when the largest and fin-
o o
est book in papa's library is one written by
his Louis? Will it not be as good as to
see his prescription at the apothecary's? It
is true that this first effort will bring me in
but little ; nothing at all, in fact, because M.
de Martins has assumed all the expenses, and
will, of course, receive the profits. My share
will be a few copies of the book, and these I
shall give to the friends who have the first
o
claim.
To his father Agassiz only writes of his
work at this time : " I have been very busy
this summer, and I can tell you from a good
source (I have it from one of the professors
himself) that the professors whose lectures I
have attended have mentioned me more than
once, as one of the most assiduous and best
informed students of the university; saying
VOL. I.
82 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
also that I deserved distinction. I do not tell
you this from ostentation, but only that you
may not think I lose my time, even though I
occupy myself chiefly with the natural sci-
ences. I hope yet to prove to you that with
a brevet of Doctor as a guarantee, Natural
History may be a man's bread-winner as well
as the delight of his life." . . .
In September Agassiz allowed himself a
short interruption of his work. The next let-
ter gives some account of this second vacation
trip.
TO HIS PARENTS.
MUNICH, September 26, 1828.
. . . The instruction for the academic year
closed at the end of August, and our profes-
sors had hardly completed their lectures when
I began my Alpine excursion. Braun, impa-
tient to leave Munich, had already started the
preceding day, promising to wait for me on
the Salzburg road at the first spot which
pleased him enough for a halt. That I might
not keep him waiting, I begged a friend to
drive me a good day's journey, thinking to
overtake Braun the first day on the pleasant
banks of the Lake of Chiem. My traveling
companions were the younger Schimper [Wil-
A VACATION TRIP. 83
helm], of whom I have spoken to you (and
who made a botanical journey in the south of
France and the Pyrenees two years ago), and
Mahir, who drove us, with whom I am very
intimate ; he is a medical student, and also
a very enthusiastic physicist. He gave me
private lessons in mathematics all winter, and
was a member of our philomathic meetings.
Braun had not set out alone either, and his
two traveling companions were also friends
of ours. One was Trettenbacher, a medical stu-
dent greatly given to sophisms and logic, but
allowing; himself to be beaten in argument
o o
with the utmost good nature, though always
believing himself in the right ; a thoroughly
good fellow with all that, and a great connois-
seur of antiquities. The other was a young
student, More, from the ci-devant department
of Mt. Tonnerre, who devotes himself en-
tirely to the natural sciences, and has chosen
the career of traveling naturalist. You can
easily imagine that this attracts me to him,
but as he is only a beginner I am, as it were,
his mentor.
On the morning of our departure the
weather was magnificent. Driving briskly
along we had various surmises as to where
we should probably meet our traveling com-
84 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
panions, not doubting- that, as we hoped to
reach the Lake of Chieni the same day, we
should come across them the day following
on one of its pretty islands. But in the after-
noon the weather changed, and we were forced
to seek shelter from torrents of rain at Rosen-
heim, a charming town on the banks of the
Inn, where I saw for the first time this river
of Helvetic origin. I saluted it as a country-
man of mine, and wished I could change its
course and send it back laden with my greet-
ings. The next day Mahir drove us as far
as the shore of the lake. There we parted
from him, and took a boat to the islands,
where we were much disappointed not to find
Braun and his companions. We thought the
bad weather of the day before (for here it
had rained all day) might have obliged them
to make the circuit of the lake. However, in
order to overtake them before reaching Salz-
burg, we kept our boatmen, and were rowed
across to the opposite shore near Grabenstadt,
where we arrived at ten o'clock in the even-
ing. In the afternoon the weather had cleared
a little, and the view was beautiful as we
pulled away from the islands and watched
them fade in the twilight. I also gathered
much interesting information about the in-
A VACATION TRIP. 85
habitants of the waters of this lake. Among-
o
others, I was much pleased to find a cat-fish,
taken in the lake by one of the island fisher-
men, and also a kind of chub, not found in
Switzerland, and called by the fishermen here
" Our Lady's Fish," because it occurs only on
the shore of an island where there is a con-
vent, the nuns of which esteem it a great del-
icacy.
The third day we reached Traunstein, where,
although it was Sunday, there was a great
horse fair. We looked with interest at the
gay Tyroleans, with the cock-feathers in their
pointed hats, singing and jodeling in the
streets with their sweethearts on their arms.
Every now and then they let fall some sar-
castic comment on our accoutrements, which
were indeed laughable enough to these peo-
ple, who had never seen anything beyond
their own chalets, and for whom an excursion
from their mountains to a fair in the nearest
town is a journey. It was noon when we
stopped at Traunstein, and from there to Salz-
burg is but five leagues. Before reaching the
fortress, however, you must pass the great
custom-house on the Bavarian frontier, and
fearing we might be delayed there too long by
the stupid Austrian officials, and thus be pre-
86 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
vented from entering the city before the gates
were closed, we resolved to wait till the next
morning and spend the night at Adelstaetten,
a pretty village about a league from Salzburg,
and the last Bavarian post. Night was fall-
ing as we approached a little wood which hid
the village from us. There we asked a peas-
ant how far we had still to go, and when he
had answered our question he told us, evi-
dently with kind intention, that we should find
good company in the village, for a few hours
earlier three journeymen laborers had arrived
there ; and then he added that we should no
doubt be glad to meet comrades and have a
gay evening with them. We were not aston-
ished to be taken for workmen, since every
one who travels here on foot, with a knapsack
on his back, is understood to belong to the
laboring class. . . . Arrived at the village, we
were delighted to find that the three journey-
men were our traveling companions. They
had come, like ourselves, from Traunstein,
where we had missed each other in the crowd,
and they were going likewise to sleep at Adel-
staetten, to avoid the custom-house. Finally,
on Monday, at ten o'clock, we crossed the
long bridge over the Saala, between the white
coats with yellow trimmings on guard there.
A VACATION TRIP. 87
On the Bavarian frontier we had hardly re-
membered that there was a custom-house, and
the name of student sufficed to pass us without
our showing any passports ; here, on the con-
trary, it was another reason for the strictest ex-
amination. " Have you no forbidden books ? '
was the first question. By good fortune, be-
fore crossing the bridge, I had advised Tret-
tenbach to hide his sonof-book in the lining; of
o o
his boot. I am assured that had it been taken
upon him he would not have been allowed to
pass. In ransacking Braun's bag, one of the
officials found a shell such as are gathered by
the basketful on the shores of the Lake of
Neuchatel. His first impulse was to go to the
office and inquire whether we should not pay
duty on this, saying that it was no doubt for
the fabrication of false pearls, and we prob-
ably had plenty more. We had aU the diffi-
culty in the world to make him understand
that not fifty steps from the custom-house the
shores of the river were strewn with them. . . .
After all this we had to empty our purses to
show that we had money enough for our jour-
ney, and that we should not be forced to beg
in order to get through. While we underwent
this inquisition, another officer made a tour of
inspection around us, to observe our general
LOUIS AGASS1Z.
bearing, etc. . . . After having kept us thus
on coals for two hours they gave us back our
passports, and we went our way. At one
o'clock we arrived at Salzburg as hungry as
wolves, but at the gate we had still to wait
and give up our passports again in exchange
for receipts, in virtue of which we could obtain
permits from the police to remain in the city.
From our inn, we sent a waiter to get these
permits, but he presently returned with the
news that we must go in person to take them ;
there was, however, no hurry ; it would do in
three or four hours ! We had no farther diffi-
culty except that it was made a condition of
our stay that we should not appear in student's
dress. This dress, they said, was forbidden in
Austria. They begged More to have his hair
cut, otherwise it would be shortened gratis,
and also informed us that at our age it was not
becoming to dispense with cravats. Happily,
I had two with me, and Braun tied his hand-
kerchief around his neck. It astonished me,
also, to see that we were not entered on the
list of strangers published every evening. So
it was also, as we found, with other students,
though the persons who came with them by
the same conveyance, even the children, were
duly inscribed. It seems this is a precaution
against any gathering of students. . . .
LIFE AT MUNICH.
The letter concludes in haste for the mail,
and if the story of the journey was finished
the final chapter has not been preserved.
Some extracts from the home letters of Agas-
siz's friend Braun, which are in place here,
throw light on their university life for the
coming year. 1
ALEXANDER BRAUN TO HIS FATHER.
MUNICH, November 18, 1828.
... I will tell you how we have laid out
our time for this term. Our human conscious-
ness may be said to begin at half-past five
o'clock in the morning. The hour from six
to seven is appointed for mathematics, name-
ly, geometry and trigonometry. To this ap-
pointment we are faithful, unless the professor
oversleeps himself, or Agassiz happens to have
grown to his bed, an event which sometimes
occurs at the opening of the term. From
seven to eight we do as we like, including
breakfast. Under Agassiz's new style of house-
keeping the coffee is made in a machine
which is devoted during the day to the soak-
ing of all sorts of creatures for skeletons, and
in the evening again to the brewing of our
1 See Life of Alexander Braun, by his daughter, Madame
Cecile Mettenius.
90 LOUIS AGASSIZ.
tea. At eight o'clock comes the clinical lec-
ture of Bingseis. As Bingseis is introduc-
ing an entirely new medical system, this is
not wholly without general physiological and
philosophical interest. At ten o'clock Stahl
lectures, five times a week, on mechanics as
preliminary to physics. These and also the
succeeding lectures, given only twice a week
on the special natural history of amphibians
by Wagler, we all attend together. From
twelve to one o'clock we have nothing settled
as yet, but we mean to take the lectures of
Db'llinger, in single chapters, as, for instance,
when he comes to the organs of the senses.
o
At one o'clock we go to dinner, for which we
have at last found a comfortable and regular
place, at a private house, after having dined
everywhere and anywhere, at prices from nine
to twenty kreutzers. Here, for thirteen kreut-
zers 1 each, in company with a few others,
mostly known to us, we are provided with a
good and neatly served meal. After dinner
we go to Dr. Waltl, with whom we study
chemistry, using Gmelin's text-book, and are
shown the most important experiments. Next
week we are to begin entomology with Dr.
Berthy, from three to four, three times a week.
1 About nine cents of our money.
LIFE AT MUNICH. 91
From one to two o'clock on Saturday we have
a lesson in experimental physiology, plainly
speaking, in animal dissection, from Dr. Oes-
terreicher, a young Docent, who has written
on the circulation of the blood. As Agassiz
dissects a great many animals, especially fish-
es, at the house, we are making rapid progress
in comparative anatomy. At four o'clock we
go usually once a week to hear Oken on " Na-
tur-philosophie ' (a course we attended last
term also), but by that means we secure a
good seat for Schelling's lecture immediately
after. A man can hardly hear twice in his
life a course of lectures so powerful as those
Schelling is now giving on the philosophy of
revelat
