METHOD OF TEACHING. 775 



tures a day. In the morning session he would 

 prepare his class for the work of the day ; in 

 the afternoon he would draw out their own 

 observations by questions, and lead them, by 

 comparison and combination of the facts they 

 had observed, to understand the significance 

 of their results. Every lecture from him at 

 this time was a lesson in teaching as well as 

 in natural history, and to many of his hearers 

 this gave his lectures a twofold value, as bear- 

 ing directly upon their own occupation. In 

 his opening address he had said to them : 

 " You will find the same elements of instruc- 

 tion all about you wherever you may be 

 teaching. You can take your classes out, and 

 give them the same lessons, and lead them up 

 .to the same subjects you are yourselves study- 

 ing here. And this mode of teaching children 

 is so natural, so suggestive, so true. That is 

 the charm of teaching from Nature herself. 

 No one can warp her to suit his own views. 

 She brings us back to absolute truth as often 

 as we wander." 



This was the bright side of the picture. 

 Those who stood nearest to Agassiz, however, 

 felt that the strain not only of work, but of 

 the anxiety and responsibility attendant upon 

 a new and important undertaking, was peril- 



