1 94 LOUIS AGASSIZ. [CHAP. vm. 



r 



hands of the " Ministres de 1'Eglise"; and the Pietists 

 and even the " Momiers " largely controlled Neuchatel 

 society. Some of Agassiz's most intimate friends, like 

 Arnold Guyot, were among the leaders of the Pietists, 

 and it required considerable moral courage to resist the 

 anti-liberal pressure exerted by the sect against all lib- 

 eral, even scientific ideas. This controversy is the best 

 answer to the attacks of those who have pretended that 

 Agassiz came under the influence of the Methodists in 

 America. Agassiz, on the contrary, was most liberal 

 in religion, and always took care never to confuse 

 science with religion. All his life he kept free of the 

 " Ministres de 1'Eglise," both in Europe and in Amer- 

 ica. To tell the truth, he never liked " ministers," to 

 whatever sect they might belong. To finish this inci- 

 dent, Agassiz was appointed rector of the Neuchatel 

 Academy for the year 1842-1843 ; and in his " Discours 

 du Nouvel-An," the ist of January, 1843, he said: - 



Une institution aussi jeune que notre Academie a surtout besoin 

 de Tappui (Tun monarque qui veille avec une si constante sollicitude 

 aux interets de la science. Deja avant son avenement an trone 

 Frederic-Guillaume IV etait le protecteur le plus zele des sciences 

 en Prusse, et sous son regne les institutions scientifiques du royaume 

 brillent d'un nouvel eclat, du surtout a Pempressement avec lequel 

 le roi a appele dans ses Etats les hommes les plus eminents de 1'Alle- 

 magne dans le domaine de la philosophic, des sciences, du droit 

 et des lettres. Tout recemment encore, il a inaugure 1'oeuvre d'une 

 grande reconciliation religieuse. C'est lui qui a brise de vielles 

 entraves qui pourraient gener un nouvel elan de Intelligence pour 

 agrandir les limites d'une libre expression de la pensee, tout en la 

 contenant dans de sages bornes. 1 



1 " La premiere Academie de Neuchatel," par Alphonse Petitpierre, 

 pp. 128-129, Neuchatel, 1889. 



