28 LOUIS AGASSIZ. [CHAP. it. 



of George Cuvier, the greatest ichthyologist of his time, 

 who was then engaged on his celebrated work " His- 

 toire des Poissons." Agassiz's work, which was dedi- 

 cated to Cuvier, is written in Latin, and possesses the 

 qualities so prominent in all Agassiz's publications ; 

 namely, accurate descriptions of the species, and excel- 

 lent and even beautiful figures. It is most creditable in 

 every way, and it furnished a sound basis for Agassiz's 

 reputation as an ichthyologist of the first rank, although 

 he was only twenty-two years old. 



This first success was much enjoyed by his family 

 and his friends, and prompted him to undertake a task 

 which was sure to place him in the front rank as a 

 naturalist, " hors ligne." Soon after the vacation of 

 1829, which was spent at Heidelberg, Carlsruhe, and 

 Orbe, the director of the museum at Munich offered 

 to Agassiz every facility to work at the collection of 

 fossil fishes, allowing him to carry the specimens to his 

 room. As the director of the Strasbourg Museum, the 

 mining engineer Voltz, and Professor Bronn of Heidel- 

 berg had made the same offer, Agassiz, seeing what a 

 splendid work was laid before him, did not hesitate to 

 undertake it, notwithstanding the great difficulties, both 

 material and scientific. 



A few words should be said in regard to his method 

 of undertaking work without being sure beforehand 

 of the means to carry it on successfully. For example, 

 in the case of his " Poissons fossiles," as we shall 

 see, he first tried a M. Cotta, a publisher of Stutt- 

 gart, and when the latter failed to come to a final 

 agreement for want of knowledge as to his part of the 



