HOW AGASSIZ TAUGHT 



several notable occasions its validity had been 

 demonstrated under very unfavorable condi- 

 tions. Yet, during the five years of my 

 attendance upon his lectures, they were seldom 

 illustrated otherwise than by his ready and 

 graphic blackboard drawings. The simple fact 

 was that the intervals between his lectures 

 were so crowded with multifarious, pressing, 

 and never-ending demands upon his time and 

 strength that he could seldom determine upon 

 the precise subject long enough in advance for 

 him, or any one else, to bring together the de- 

 sirable specimens or even charts. The second 

 lecture of the course already mentioned is 

 characterized in my diary as * splendid,' and 

 as 'for the first time illustrated with many 

 specimens.' At one of the later lectures, after 

 speaking about fifteen minutes, he invited his 

 hearers to examine living salmon embryos 

 under his direction at one table, and living 

 shark embryos under mine at another. 



Like those of Wyman, the courses given by 

 Agassiz were Senior electives. I never heard 

 of any examination upon them ; nor is it easy to 

 imagine Agassiz as preparing a syllabus, or 



[35] 



