1 8 36-37-] KARL SCHIMPER. 87 



of 1836-37, Agassiz gave a public lecture at Neuchatel 

 on the subject. He was continually haunted by his 

 thoughts on old glaciers ; and when the Helvetic Soci- 

 ety of Natural Sciences, of which he had been elected 

 president, met at Neuchatel on the 24th of July, 1837, ne 

 wrote during the night previous his famous " Discours 

 d'ouverture." In it Agassiz most frankly acknowledges 

 that his explanation of the glacial epoch " est le resul- 

 tat de la combinaison de mes idees et de celles de 

 M. Schimper." All these explanations are necessary, 

 in order to show exactly how Schimper became involved 

 in the question, and how unjust are the accusations 

 of plagiarism launched against Agassiz by Schimper 

 himself and by Dr. Otto Vogel, in the " Allgemeine 

 Zeitung ' of Augsburg. Agassiz's good heart and 

 constant readiness to give impulse to new ideas were 

 interpreted in a manner not exactly creditable. 



But before we come to the delivery of his " Discours," 

 let us see how friendly he was to Schimper. As soon 

 as Schimper became a guest in Agassiz's apartment 

 at Neuchatel, Agassiz introduced him to everybody 

 and made the most of him. At the meetings of the 

 Neuchatel Society of Natural Sciences, Schimper com- 

 municated in February, March, and April, 1837, his 

 observations on the morphology of plants, showing the 

 laws of development of leaves round the axes ; and also 

 his new ideas on the development of the animal king- 

 dom before the appearance of man. During the five 

 years which had passed since their last meeting at 

 Carlsruhe in 1832, Schimper had undergone changes 

 which were not to his advantage. He had failed to 



