AGASSIZ 



firmly refuse work which he cannot do suc- 

 cessfully. 



It is a false idea to suppose that everybody 

 is competent to learn or to teach everything. 

 Would our great artists have succeeded equally 

 well in Greek or calculus? A smattering of 

 everything is worth little. It is a fallacy to 

 suppose that an encyclopaedic knowledge is 

 desirable. The mind is made strong, not 

 through much learning, but by the thorough 

 possession of something. 



Lay aside all conceit. Learn to read the 

 book of nature for yourself. Those who have 

 succeeded best have followed for years some 

 slim thread which has once in a while broadened 

 out and disclosed some treasure worth a life- 

 long search. 



A man cannot be a professor of zoology on 

 one day, and of chemistry on the next, and do 

 good work in both. As in a concert all are 

 musicians one plays one instrument, and one 

 another, but none all in perfection. 



You cannot do without one specialty; you 

 must have some base-line to measure the work 

 [64] 



