HOW AGASSIZ TAUGHT 



of the literature of ichthyology, becoming 

 especially interested in the system of classi- 

 fication, then most imperfect. I tried to follow 

 Agassiz's scheme of division into the order of 

 ctenoids and ganoids, with the result that I 

 found one of my species of side-swimmers had 

 cycloid scales on one side and ctenoid on the 

 other. This not only shocked my sense of the 

 value of classification in a way that permitted of 

 no full recovery of my original respect for the 

 process, but for a time shook my confidence in 

 my master's knowledge. At the same time I 

 had a malicious pleasure in exhibiting my 

 4 find' to him, expecting to repay in part the 

 humiliation which he had evidently tried to 

 inflict on my conceit. To my question as to 

 how the nondescript should be classified he 

 said: 'My boy, there are now two of us who 

 know that.' 



This incident of the fish made an end of my 

 novitiate. After that, with a suddenness of 

 transition which puzzled me, Agassiz became 

 very communicative; we passed indeed into 

 the relation of friends of like age and purpose, 

 and he actually consulted me as to what I 



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