820 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



doing it. It was precisely this new and prolonged strain, at a season 

 when usually he took a sort of vacation, that shattered his system 

 beyond the power of repair; and on December 14, 1873, he died. 



If we consider simply the influence of his philosophical opinions on 

 the mass of scientific men, Agassiz lived too late and also too early. At 

 all stages of its progress, the human mind presents a kind of atrophy 

 of some of its parts ; and he who treats of such topics as are ap- 

 preciated only by these parts speaks to deaf ears. Continuance in one 

 set of opinions through several generations produces at last lassitude, 

 then a sort of rebellion, and finally the welcoming of any thing novel, 

 as a glad relief. Here is a great, if not the greatest, cause of changes, 

 which are, on the whole, beneficial. The tree of knowledge at such 

 times throws out new and strong branches, albeit they are all on one 

 side. Thus it has been with natural science. Scholars got tired of 

 Bridgewater treatises, and talk of means and ends, and of plans of 

 creation ; moreover, they were in some places exasperated by opposition 

 ffom Church or State. Then they were getting suffocated by their 

 material ; and, when the species of shells increased to thousands, and 

 of beetles to tens of thousands, they exclaimed, " It is enough, — give us 

 relief!" Their relief was like that of the Mediteval Catholic Church. 

 Positivism advanced, and said : " Bury every thing that is inconvenient, 

 and come and lean on me, and I will give you peace. Thought and 

 causation have no real existence. They and you are only figures in 

 a procession that has neither beginning nor end. Amuse yourselves, 

 therefore, by looking at this procession, until the inevitable comes 

 upon you." This is the philosophy which to-day is powerful among 

 thinking men ; and its tide is fated to rise higher before it ebbs. Like 

 all systems, it will work good and evil ; but its good will remain, and 

 its evil melt away. 



Against such a current Agassiz struggled in vain. He was a theistic 

 philosopher, who chose for his field the working of Supreme Thought in 

 the animal creation. He addressed a world of learned men, the major- 

 ity of whom could not understand what basis theistic philosopliy had, 

 and of whom not a few accused him of want of honesty for even 

 introducing such a theme. The time will come when his power and 

 insight will be appreciated. Meanwhile we must be content with his 

 successes that lay in a lower plane : they were his special zoological 

 investigations, and his brilliant career in the United States, where he 

 roused an enthusiasm for high studies, and where he established a great 

 centre of science. 



