CHAPTER I. 



1807-1827. 



ANCESTRY ORIGIN OF THE NAME AGASSIZ COAT-OF-ARMS BOYHOOD 



MOTIER-EN-VULY REPUTATION OF LOUIS'S FATHER AS A TEACHER 



COLLEGE OF BlENNE VlNTAGE-TIME AT MOTIER SOME PECULI- 

 ARITIES IN THE CHARACTER OF Louis AGASSIZ COLLEGE STUDIES 

 AT LAUSANNE His RESOLUTION TO BE A NATURALIST --UNIVERSITY 

 OF ZURICH His FIRST TEACHER OF ZOOLOGY, M. SCHINZ "FIRST 

 AT WORK AND FIRST AT PLAY!" UNIVERSITY OF HEIDELBERG 

 ALEXANDER BRAUN, KARL SCHIMPER, AND AGASSIZ FIRST VISIT 

 TO THE BRAUN FAMILY AT CARLSRUHE TYPHOID FEVER His 

 STAY AT ORBE. 



THE Agassiz family came originally from Orbe and 

 the small village of Bavois, in the ''Jura Vaudois." A 

 little west of Orbe there is a small hamlet, called Agiez 

 or Agiz. In old French, and more especially in the 

 patois of the Canton de Vaud, Agiz, Agiez, Agasse, 

 Agassiz, and Aigasse 1 mean "magpie," a bird which 

 was and is still very common in the country around 

 Orbe and La Sarraz. In low Latin, magpie is Agasia ; 

 in Provencal, Agazia, or Agassa, and Agasse ; while in 

 Burgundy and Franche-Comte it is Aiguaisse. Obvi- 



1 "Agassiz ou Agasses ou Agaisse; dans toute la France ces trois noms 

 signifient Pie. Autrefois Agassiz s'ecrivait un pen differement Agacie. 

 C'etait un surnom donne jadis aux querelleurs, dit-on, et aussi aux grands 

 causeurs. On salt combien la Pie est jaseuse." (See " Dictionnaire des 

 noms," par Loredan-Larchey, p. 4, Paris, 1880.) 



B I 



