1807-27.] BOYHOOD. 5 



especially from Bienne down to Orbe and " la perte du 

 Rhone." 



The father of Louis was called Rodolphe Benjamin 

 Louis; he was born March 3, 1776, and died Sept. 6, 

 1837. His mother, Rose Mayor, was born July 11, 

 1783, and died Nov. n, 1867. Jean Louis Rodolphe 

 Agassiz was born May 28, 1807, at the parsonage of 

 Motier-en-Vuly, on the Lake of Morat, Canton of Fri- 

 bourg. He was the fifth child, but the four others hav- 

 ing died in their infancy, Louis Agassiz was the eldest 

 child. As is the custom among all French-speaking 

 people, he never used his full Christian name, but 

 signed himself simply Louis Agassiz. 



At the beginning of this century, and before coming 

 to the parish of Motier, his father had been pastor at 

 St. Imier, then a very poor and remote valley, lost 

 among the mountains of the Jura. The loss of his 

 children, one after another, and the great isolation of 

 St. Imier, far away from his kindred and friends, led 

 him to look for a better parish, and, in 1806, he came 

 to Motier, 1 first as a " suffragan " (assistant) of the titu- 

 lar minister, J. R. Martin; afterward, on Aug. 31, 1810, 

 he was elected "pasteur" (minister). 



The parish of Motier consists of four small villages, 

 located at the eastern foot of Mont Vuly, on the Lake 

 of Morat, and containing in all five hundred inhabitants. 

 Singularly enough, Vuly belongs to the Roman Catho- 



1 The name is sometimes spelled Metiers, and to distinguish it from 

 another Metiers in the Val Travers, it is called Motier-en-Vully. The 

 spelling varies as well for Vully as for Motier,. Metiers, or Moutiers, and is 

 written sometimes Vuilly, Vuly, or Vully. 



