232 LOUIS AGASSIZ. [CHAP. 



popular, gave a strong impulse to the development of 

 questions very little known before him, and created 

 a more elementary method of teaching. Agassiz de- 

 lighted in making pupils, and was always on the lookout 

 for applause from all his hearers, whoever they might 

 be, savants or populace. Cuvicr, on the contrary, never 

 took the trouble to make pupils, although he left several 

 after him, among them Agassiz and Richard Owen ; he 

 never courted applause nor popularity. Cuvier took 

 care to screen himself, and preferred the solitude of his 

 laboratory and library, while for Agassiz solitude was 

 insupportable ; he wanted to be surrounded at all times 

 by pupils or admirers. He courted bustle. This is a 

 very unusual characteristic among savants, who are 

 generally more or less retiring, and conduct their re- 

 searches in the solitude of a laboratory, far from all 

 distractions. As soon as Agassiz had found some- 

 thing new, he proclaimed it even before he had 

 obtained all the proofs. He was always anxious to 

 make an impression on his surroundings and his con- 

 temporaries. He was a leader of men, and above all 

 a charmer. Cuvier, on the contrary, was difficult to 

 reach, always on his guard, and very reserved. He did 

 not care about publicity, but he was extremely desirous 

 to make discoveries and keep them secret, until he had 

 deduced all the consequences, and proved them beyond 

 question. 



If Cuvier showed great superiority and inventive 

 genius in his classification of the animal kingdom, in 

 his comparative anatomy, his restoration of the forms 

 of fossil vertebrates, his description of the geology of 



