ii6 LOUIS AGASSIZ. [CHAP. vi. 



rillard, born at Montbeliard, like Cuvier, possessed a 

 great heart, a rare modesty, profound knowledge of 

 many questions of natural history, was devoted body 

 and soul to his great master, and was completely de- 

 void of any ambition, except to receive and always 

 deserve the approbation of Cuvier. Ever since that 

 time, Agassiz's ambition had been to get, as soon as 

 his means would allow it, his own Laurillard. He tried 

 again and again, and always failed. It is true that men 

 like Laurillard are very rare ; but Agassiz never pos- 

 sessed the art of properly managing his assistants ; an 

 art which Cuvier always had. Cuvier treated Lauril- 

 lard with dignity, never with familiarity, much less in 

 a spirit of comradery and companionship. From the 

 first day of the arrival of Laurillard in the laboratory 

 of Cuvier, he received a regular salary. He often 

 accompanied Cuvier in his journeys ; but he had the 

 great tact to remain in his subordinate position of 

 assistant, taking care to keep himself always in the 

 background. 



With Agassiz it was very different ; he never knew 

 how to keep his assistants at a distance. They very 

 soon became intimate with him, or were allowed privi- 

 leges not proper to their subordinate position. In 

 addition, the question of compensation was a constant 

 difficulty, either through the lack of complete under- 

 standing, or through the small amount of the salaries. 

 In a word, Agassiz was a very bad manager of men, 

 while Cuvier, on the contrary, was a capital and rare 

 director of everything relating to scientific work and 

 scientific assistants. Years after the death of Cuvier, I 



