138 LOUIS AGASSIZ. [CHAP. vii. 



in writing under the dictation of Agassiz, but also in 

 using his own gifts in description of species and notes 

 on the glacial question. As Vogt says : " Desor jusqu'a 

 son arrivee chez Agassiz, ignorait et etait presque com> 

 pletement etranger a toutes les branches d'histoire 

 naturelle. Infatigable au travail, Desor etait en meme 

 temps un compagnon aimable et devoue, ayant toujours 

 le mot pour rire et maniant avec bonhommie la plai- 



santerie et meme 1'ironie gracieuse." 1 



/ 



The notes to be used in preparing the " Etudes sur 

 les glaciers ' were put in order by Desor ; in addition, 

 he corrected all the proofs of the " Poissons fossiles," 

 the " Echinodermes de la Suisse," the " Memoire sur 

 les Trigonies," and the " Observations geologiques sur 

 le Jura Soleurois," and began work on the " Catalogue 

 of all Books, Tracts, and Memoirs on Zoology and 

 Geology," the " Catalogus systematicus ectyporum 

 Echinodermatum fossilium Musei neocomensis," and 

 finally at the " Nomenclator Zoologicus." 



Agassiz gave all his assistants so much to do that it 

 was impossible to keep pace with his eager desire and 

 ardour for scientific publication. When we remember 

 that it was in a small town of six thousand inhabitants 

 that such publications were all started simultaneously by 

 the invincible will of one man, and that all these great 

 undertakings required not only steady and hard work but 

 also time and money, for Agassiz from that day pub- 

 lished everything, with very few exceptions, " aux frais de 

 1'auteur," -it is almost incredible. We have no exam- 



1 " Discours a 1'Institut National Genevois," le 23 Mai, 1882. 



