480 THE HISTORY OF BIOLOGY 



science. He studied at several German universities, his teachers including 

 both Schelling and Oken, but principally Dollinger, mentioned above as 

 von Baer's master; he became doctor of medicine and afterwards spent a 

 couple of years in Paris in lively discussion with both Cuvier and Humboldt. 

 His chief object of study was the fishes, both recent and fossil; a large work 

 that he had commenced on the fishes of Europe was never finished, while 

 another on fossil fishes proved a pioneering work in its own sphere. But 

 besides this, glacial research proved of special interest to this many-sided 

 scientist, and in this field too he was a pioneer. He proved that the glaciers 

 had in earlier times been far more extensive in his native country than they 

 are now, and during a journey to Scotland he found that large glaciers had ex- 

 isted there too in past ages. From this he drew conclusions regarding the 

 general glacialization of Europe, which afterwards led to that highly de- 

 veloped research-work on the glacial period which has been especially note- 

 worthy in Scandinavia. During the years 1831-46 Agassiz was a professor 

 at Neuchatel; he then moved to America and became professor at Harvard 

 University. There he did splendid work as both a zoologist and a geologist, 

 making extensive journeys and producing works on the animal world and 

 the zoology of America, as well as on theoretical problems. He died in 1873. 

 In his theoretical writings Agassiz shows himself a true romantic natu- 

 ral philosopher, as might be expected from the education he received. The 

 problem of species engaged him a great deal and is solved by him in a mark- 

 edly idealistic direction. In such circumstances it was obvious that he could 

 not hail the advent of Darwinism with any great enthusiasm. In his polemics 

 against it he makes a great point of its weaknesses; lack of observation of 

 the real transition from one species to another, lack of obedience to law in 

 its theory of natural selection, the weak conclusions drawn from similarity 

 in the embryonic stage to similarity of origin. But the most serious mistake 

 to his mind is that the new theory fails to realize the creative idea running 

 through all animate nature. The individuals perish, but hand over to their 

 posterity, generation by generation, all that is typical, with the exclusion of 

 what is merely individual; therefore, while the individuals have only a mate- 

 rial existence, species, genera, families, and so on upwards exist as the 

 thought-categories of the Supreme Intelligence, and as such possess a truly 

 independent and immutable existence.^ Here, it will be seen, speaks the pure 

 romantic idealism, whose supporters, thanks to their intensive professional 

 insight, have no difficulty in discovering the weaknesses underlying the new 

 biological theory, though only to maintain in its stead their own 



^ In his "Essay on Classification" Agassiz, speaking of rudimentary organs, maintains 

 that these exist not for any purpose of function, but to complete the design, just as in a building 

 certain details are introduced for the sake of symmetry, without any idea of their serving a 

 practical purpose. 



