SKETCH OF LEO LESQUEREUX. 837 



in early childhood enjoyed the friendship of Goethe. Her father was 

 a man of learning, with a strong propensity to science. When the 

 young man was about to return to his home, the father, who was set- 

 ting out in the same direction, invited him to share his carriage. The 

 marriage was agreed upon during this journey. Lesquereux brought 

 his bride to Fleurier, where, in sight of the lofty Alpine peaks, he be- 

 came engaged in the study of mosses, and later of fossil botany. It 

 was at this period that he became interested in peat, its formation and 

 possible reproduction. The protection of the peat-bogs, the principal 

 fuel of Switzerland, was then a matter of great importance to the Gov- 

 ernment of Neufchatel. Lesquereux published some memoirs of his 

 investigations, which attracted the attention of Agassiz, then occupy- 

 ing the chair of Natural History in the Academy of Neufchatel. He 

 invited the author to visit him for a consultation upon the theories he 

 had set forth. Shortly after this visit — which started a friendship 

 that ceased only with Agassiz's death — the Government of Neufchatel 

 offered a gold medal for the best popular treatise on the formation 

 and reproduction of peat. 



A committee of eight savants was appointed to explore the peat 

 deposits of the state, in order to be fully informed of the value of 

 Lesquereux's researches. Professor Agassiz, who was a member of 

 the committee, at first did not agree with his theory, but after the 

 committee had been out a few days — they were two weeks on the 

 field — he accepted it, and became its ardent supporter. " During these 

 days, passed in constant intercourse with the great Agassiz," said Les- 

 quereux, " I became sincerely attached to him ; not only on account 

 of his great mind and disposition to consider any subject fully, but 

 because of his goodness of heart, the charm of his conversation, his 

 childlike simplicity, and clearness of thought and expression, even in 

 discussing the most abstruse subjects of science." Lesquereux's mem- 

 oir was awarded the prize, and gained wide reputation ; and it is 

 still quoted as one of the best authorities on the subject. The author, 

 under the patronage of the King of Prussia, subsequently explored the 

 peat-bogs of Northern Europe. In this manner he became master of 

 the botany, physics, chemistry, and geology of those districts, and was 

 led to think that the theory he had formulated might be applied to 

 the coal-seams of our country. To the New World his labors were 

 now transferred, in 1848, when, having become totally deaf in the 

 prime of life, he also found himself deprived of scientific employment 

 at home by the political changes that followed the revolution. It was 

 at this crisis that he came to Boston, where, at the earnest solicitation 

 of that naturalist, he became a member of the household of Agassiz. 

 Here he worked upon the botanical part of Agassiz's " Journey to Lake 

 Superior," until the eve of Christmas, 1848, when, at the invitation of 

 the eminent bryologist, W. S. Sullivant, he went to Columbus, Ohio, 

 and, entering his laboratory, continued there the study of mosses. At 



