CHAPTER XXIV. 



PHYSICAL AND MORAL CHARACTERISTICS His GENEROSITY OPINIONS 

 OF MRS. ELIZABETH AGASSIZ AND PROFESSOR KARL VOGT PARALLEL 

 BETWEEN AGASSIZ AND CUVIER. 



DR. PROFESSOR HERMANN LEBERT, the anatomist 

 and naturalist, says : " Agassiz was one of the most 

 brilliant men of his time. Young, handsome, of an 

 athletic constitution, gifted with a captivating elo- 

 quence, his spirit was animated by an insatiable curi- 

 osity, his memory excellent, his perspicacity rare and 

 very keen, and his way of judging and coordinating 

 facts highly philosophical in its tendency " (" Actes de 

 la Societe helvetique des sciences naturelles reunies a 

 Bex," aout, 1877, p. 149). No one was better fitted to 

 give an exact description of the physical and scientific 

 characteristics of Agassiz than Dr. Lebert, who had 

 known him well during the twelve years of his greatest 

 scientific activity, from 1834 to 1846. 



Agassiz was a little above the average height, 

 although not tall. He was squarely built, with broad 

 shoulders and a powerful and well-proportioned body, 

 and with remarkably large, and at the same time well- 

 formed, hands, which he always used most skilfully. 

 They were the hands of an artist or of a naturalist, 

 ready to use the pencil, the hammer, the scalpel, or 



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