96 LOUIS AGASSIZ. [CHAP. xvn. 



one new thing after another, until I saw how just the professor's 

 criticism had been. The afternoon passed quickly, and when, 

 toward its close, the professor inquired, - 



"' Do you see it yet?' 



" ' No,' I replied, * I am certain I do not ; but I see how little I 

 saw before.' 



' ; That is next best,' said he earnestly ; ' but I won't hear you 

 now ; put away your fish and go home ; perhaps you will be ready 

 with a better answer in the morning. I will examine you before 

 you look at the fish.' 



This was disconcerting. Not only must I think of my fish all 

 night, studying, without the object before me, what this unknown 

 but most visible feature might be, but also, without reviewing my 

 new discoveries, I must give an exact account of them the next day. 

 I had a bad memory, so I walked home by Charles River in a dis- 

 turbed state with my two perplexities. 



The cordial greeting from the professor the next morning was 

 reassuring. Here was a man who seemed to be quite as anxious as 

 I that I should see for myself what he saw. 



" ' Do you perhaps mean,' I asked, ' that the fish has symmetrical 

 sides with paired organs?' 



" His thoroughly pleased Of course, of course! ' repaid the wake- 

 ful hours of the previous night. After he had discoursed most hap- 

 pily and enthusiastically as he always did upon the importance 

 of this point, I ventured to ask what I should do next. 



'' ' Oh, look at your fish ! ' he said, and left me again to my own 

 devices. In a little more than an hour he returned and heard my 

 new catalogue. 



" ' That is good, that is good,' he repeated ; ' but that is not all ; 

 go on.' And so for three long days he placed that fish before my 

 eyes, forbidding me to look at anything else or to use any artificial 

 aid. 'Look! look! look!' was his repeated injunction. 



'This was the 2st entomological lesson I ever had, a lesson 

 whose influence has extended to the details of every subsequent 

 study ; a legacy that professor lias left to me, as he left it to many 

 others, of inestimable value, which we could not buy, with which 

 we cannot part. 



