Scientists and Philosophers 213 



it considering the variety of my reading since I left col- 

 lege. He added, however: "You wouldn't have made up 

 your Greek and Latin that way." Of course he was entirely 

 correct. I think Latin and Greek have to be drilled in as 

 the foundation on which to build later studies of foreign 

 languages. Although I can't read either of the ancient 

 tongues at all fluently now, they help me make pleasant 

 new generic names like Hoplophryne or Pomatops or 

 Suillomeles. 



During my Harvard years I have been asked a hundred 

 times whether Louis or Alexander Agassiz was the greater 

 man. The mere fact that I am the unworthy occupant of 

 their chair does not necessarily make my opinion of value. 

 Nevertheless, because I knew many of their pupils, and 

 had the great privilege of knowing Alexander myself, I 

 might reasonably be expected to have formed an opinion. 

 But I was always noncommittal until one afternoon I had 

 a long conversation on this subject with Mr. Lowell just a 

 short time after he had resigned as President of Harvard 

 College. 



Mr. Lowell argued in this way: Both men had been in- 

 terested in geology at one stage of their careers. Louis as a 

 young man gave to the world his immortal studies of glacia- 

 tion with all they impHed. Glacial geology has now come 

 to be a science by itself. The effect of the concept that 

 there was a polar ice cap has had a bearing not only on 

 modern interpretations of geology and oceanography, but 

 on zoography and the modern interpretation of the dis- 

 tribution of plants as well. This work alone would have 

 given Louis undying fame. Alexander's studies of coral 



