94 LOUIS AGASSIZ. [CHAP. xvn. 



m'est due d'apres nos conditions, vous me rendriez une immense 

 service. 



Another more pressing letter came soon after, and 

 Agassiz made a settlement, agreeing to pay a yearly 

 interest on the ten thousand dollars until he should be 

 able to pay the whole sum. Of course, all \vas finally 

 paid, but cle Koninck had to wait several years. 



Mr. Samuel H. Scudder has given a very good 

 description of Agassiz's method with his students in 

 an article entitled, " In the Laboratory with Agassiz," l 

 by a former pupil, a very clever and charming remi- 

 niscence. 



Mr. Scudder says : " He asked me . . . whether I wished to 

 study any special branch. ... I replied that while I wished to be 

 well grounded in all departments of zoology, I purposed to devote 

 myself specially to insects. 



"'When do you wish to begin ? ' he asked. 



"'Now,' I replied. 



" This seemed to please him, and, with an energetic ' Very well, 1 

 he reached from a shelf a huge jar of specimens in yellow alcohol. 



" Take this fish, 1 said he, ' and look at it ; we call it a Haemulon. 

 By and by I will ask you what you have seen.' 



" With that he left me, but in a moment returned with explicit 

 instructions as to the care of the object intrusted to me. 



" ' No man is fit to be a naturalist,' said he, ' who does not know 

 how to take care of specimens. 1 



"... Entomology was a cleaner science than ichthyology ; but 

 the example of the professor, who had unhesitatingly plunged to 

 the bottom of the jar to produce the fish, was infectious ; and though 



"Every Saturday," Vol. XVI., pp. 369, 370, April 4, 1874, and 

 " American Poems," several editions, published by Houghton, Mifilin & 

 Co., Cambridge. Also issued separately as a leaflet for the Agassiz fun I. 

 by Mr. Barnard. 



