206 LOUIS AGASSTZ. [CHAP. vm. 



urged on, he says, by many friends, and I may add by 

 the one called by Forbes " his confidential adviser," he 

 wrote his " Reply to Dr. Karl Schimper's Attacks." In 

 it, interesting details of their life as students, and of the 

 sort of community existing at that time between Alexan- 

 der Braun, the two Schimper brothers, and Agassiz are 

 given, and the kindness and generosity of Agassiz to 

 the two Schimpers are revealed; full justice is done to 

 the brilliant intellect of Karl Schimper, and his share in 

 the diagram entitled " Crust of the Earth as related to 

 Zoology," constructed by him with the help of notes 

 furnished by Agassiz, and afterward published (1848), 

 is fully acknowledged. As to Agassiz's delay in return- 

 ing specimens of fishes lent to him for his great work 

 on fossil fishes, it was unavoidable, on account of the 

 many specimens to be taken care of, and the delay in 

 the publication. As soon as the work was finished, 

 every specimen was carefully packed and returned in 

 good condition. 



Schimper's claim to a small collection of minerals 

 offered to Agassiz at Carlsruhe, when Agassiz was on 

 the point of beginning his lectures as professor at Neu- 

 chatel, shows only too plainly how depressed and de- 

 moralized Schimper had become after the break in his 

 relations with Agassiz in 1838. 



The only fault, and it is a very trivial one, to be found 

 with Agassiz, is that he did not refer to Schimper again 

 in his volume " Etudes sur les Glaciers," in regard to 

 the otherwise erroneous explanation of the diminution 

 of the temperature of the globe with the disappearance 

 of the animals, analogous to the phenomena accompany- 



