120 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



of Philosophy. A case of somnambulism, 

 which fell under his observation and showed 

 him disease, or, at least, abnormal action of the 

 brain, under an aspect which was new to him, 

 seems to have given a fresh impulse to his 

 medical studies, and, for a time, he was inclined 

 to believe that the vocation which had thus far 

 been to him one of necessity, might become 

 one of preference. But the naturalist was 

 stronger than the physician. During this very 

 winter, when he was preparing himself with 

 new earnestness for his profession, a collection 

 of fossil fishes was put into his hands by the 

 Director of the Museum of Munich. It will 

 be seen with what ardor he threw himself into 

 this new investigation. His work on the 

 " Poissons Fossiles," which placed him in a 

 few years in the front rank of European sci- 

 entific men, took form at once in his fertile 

 brain. 



TO HIS BROTHER. 



MUNICH, January 18, 1830. 



. . . My resolve to study medicine is now 

 confirmed. I feel all that may be done to 

 render this study worthy the name of science, 

 which it has so long usurped. Its intimate 

 alliance with the natural sciences and the en- 

 lightenment it promises me regarding them 



