1807-27.] UNIVERSITY OF ZURICH. 15 



comrades, for the Vaudois youth are almost all very 

 bright and remarkably intelligent ; but at Zurich it was 

 different. The students there were, for the most part, 

 German Swiss, rather slow, quiet, steady in their work, 

 and not apt to awaken interest of any sort. Agassiz at 

 once attracted the attention of all the students by his 

 quick perception, his witty remarks, and more especially 

 by his constant show of varied knowledge. One of them, 

 many years after, said to me, " Agassiz knew everything, 

 and he was always ready to demonstrate and speak on 

 any subject. If it was a subject which he was not famil- 

 iar with, he would study and rapidly master it ; and on 

 the next occasion, he would speak in such brilliant terms 

 and with such profound erudition that he was a source 

 of constant wonder to all of us." 



At Zurich, Agassiz not only enjoyed the teaching of 

 the zoologist Schinz, but he also often saw the geologist 

 Gesner Escher, the celebrated engineer of the Linth 

 River, and became a great friend of his son, Arnold 

 Escher von der Linth; a friendship which lasted all 

 their lives, notwithstanding great difference of char- 

 acter and even of opinion, Arnold Escher being an 

 observer in the field, while Agassiz was more of a 

 laboratory, museum, and lecture-room man. 



Not only did Louis Agassiz astonish his fellow-stu- 

 dents at Zurich by the variety of his knowledge, but he 

 was also a wonder to them in his capacity as a pleas- 

 ure-seeker. At " Kommers ' he was always first to 

 come and last to go, his strong constitution requiring 

 an absorption of food and drink which left all the 

 others far behind him, and won for him the reputation 



