OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 311 



SO his passion for the study of nature, which grew with such intensity as 

 to take comijlete possession of him by the time he had reached man- 

 hood. It was a growth not to be explained, and is an example of the 

 multitude of exceptions to the so-called law of hereditary transmission. 

 Already, while a boy, he began to collect insects at the gymnasium of 

 Bienne ; and, later, pursued a systematic study of the native plants 

 of Orbe, a town on the great road over the Jura, whither his father had 

 moved. At the academy of Lausanne he laid the foundations of a 

 classical education, and in his eighteenth year began the study of 

 medicine ; for he was obliged to look forward to a time when his 

 knowledge would be his only means of livelihood. After two years at 

 Zurich, he went to Heidelberg in 182G, and there studied anatomy 

 under the noted Tiedemann, and botany and zoology with BischofF 

 and Leuckhart. In the following year he entered the University of 

 Munich, which then numbered very distinguished men among its pro- 

 fessors. Oken, in some respects the most remarkable zoologist that 

 Germany has produced, there expounded his curious classification of 

 the animal kingdom. Dcillinger took the young Swiss into his house, 

 and planted and fostered that interest in embryology which was to 

 be a guide in his after career. His fellow-students remember vividly 

 the remarkable appearance of Agassiz at that period, his active and 

 powerful physique, the intellectual beauty of his face, his biilliant 

 eye and gay laugh. Although a laborious and devoted scholar, he 

 found time for athletic sports ; and, as leading swordsman of the 

 imiversity, was elected president of the Swiss club, the Helvetia. At 

 this the beginning of his scientific life, the bent of liis mind towards 

 a combination of natural history with metaphysics was already marked. 

 While fitting himself for the practice of medicine, he attended Schell- 

 ing's course of mental philosophy during four consecutive years ; and 

 this protracted study, in connection with the interest he took in the 

 abstract theories of Oken, conclusively proves that the essential char- 

 acter of his intellect was the same in youth as in age. An irresistible 

 passion, an intense longing to tear 'from Nature the secret of life, had 

 now complete possession of Agassiz, and was destined not to lead, but 

 to drive him during the remainder of his existence. The surroundinofs 

 were, it is true, favorable, but it was because he sought them ; and, had 

 they not been favorable, he would have sought elsewhere. He has 

 since said : " Our professors were themselves original investigators, 

 daily contributing to the sum of human knowledge. They were not 

 only our teachers, but our friends. The best spirit prevailed among 

 professors and students. We were often companions of their walks, 



