388 Professor Agassiz on the Detelopment of Oiyatiised Beingi 



but they were very slight compared with the one already de- 

 scribed. 



" For some weeks previous to the occurrence of the earth- 

 quake the weather had been wet and rainy to a most unpre- 

 cedented degree ; and during the day, on the evening of which 

 the most severe concussion was felt (23d October) it rained 

 incessantly, and with great violence. There was a pretty 

 strong breeze of wind from the east, and the eastern horizon 

 presented a dull reddish appearance during the whole evening. 

 During the night, also, the river fell rapidly several feet below 

 the level it had reached in the afternoon of the 23d, notwith- 

 standing the continuance of the rain." 



{To be continued.) 



On the Succession and Development of Organised Beings at the 

 Surface of the Terrestrial Glohe ; being a Discourse delivered 

 at the Inauguration of the Academy of Neuchatel. By Pro- 

 fessor Louis Agassiz.* 



Gentlemen, — The important event which has called us to- 

 gether, seems to indicate to me in some measure the nature 

 of the subject which I ought to select for discussion, in ad- 

 dressing you for the first time as Professor of our infant 

 Academy. It is with all public institutions, as with human 

 life, in the course of which certain epochs are more promi- 

 nently marked than others, and seem to call us to more se- 

 rious reflections. Nature also has her important epochs, and 

 1 think that the appearance, the development, and the disap- 

 pearance of organised beings at the surface of the terrestrial 

 globe, merit more particularly being considered under this 

 point of viev*^. The scientific results to which my researches 

 on this subject have conducted me, will not, I hope, be with- 

 out a corresponding parallel as regards the establishment for 

 the higher kind of public instruction which our Prince, in 

 his solicitude for the intellectual development of our country, 

 has instituted among us. 



At the present time, one great thought prevails in natural 



* Communicated by ProfeBsor AgaJ-tsiz. 



