LITERARY NOTICES. 



557 



Heidelberg in the year 1826, at the age of 

 nineteen. It is not easy to make citations 

 from a book of such uniform interest ; but 

 his student-life at Heidelberg, and afterward 

 at Munich, as gathered from various passages 

 in this history, has a peculiar fascination. 

 In one of the first acquaintances made by 

 him at this time, Agassiz found a life-long 

 friend — 



and in after-years a brother. Professor Tiedemann, 

 by ■whom he had been so kindly received, reeotn- 

 mended him to seek the acquaintance of young 

 Alexander Braun, an ardent student and especial 

 lover of botany. At Tledemann's lecture, the next 

 day, Agassiz's attention was attracted by a young 

 tnan who sat next him, and who was taking very- 

 careful notes, and illustrating them. There was 

 something very winning in his calm, gentle face, 

 full of benevolence and intelligence. Convinced, by 

 his manner of listening to the lecture, that this 

 was the student of whom Tiedemann had spoken, 

 Agassiz turned to his neighbor, as they both rose 

 at the close of the hour, and said, "Are you Alex- 

 ander Braun?" "Yes. Are you Louis Agassiz?" 

 . . . The two young men left the lecture-room to- 

 gether, and from that time their studies, their ex- 

 cursions, their amusements, were undertaken and 

 pursued together. . . . Braun learned zoology from 

 Agassiz, and he in turn learned botany from Braun. 



In a letter of young Braun to his parents, 

 written at this time, he says : 



In my leisure hours I go to the dissecting-room, 

 where, in company with another young naturahst, 

 who has appeared hke a rare comet on the Heidel- 

 berg horizon, I dissect all manner of beasts, such as 

 dogs, cats, birds, fljhes, and even smaller fry, as 

 snails, butterflies, caterpillars, worms, and the hke. 

 ... I sometimes go with this naturalist on a hunt 

 for animals and plants. Not only do we collect and 

 learn to observe all manner of things, but we ex- 

 change views on scientific matters in general. 



And he adds, concerning Agassiz's at- 

 tainments at this time : 



I learn a great deal from him, for he is much 

 more at home in zoology than I am. He is famil- 

 iar with almost all the known mammalia, recog- 

 nizes the birds from far off by their song, and can 

 give a name to every fish in the water. In the 

 morning we often stroll together through the fish- 

 market, where he explains to me all the different 

 species. He is going to teach me how to stuff 

 fishes ; and then we intend so make a collection of 

 all the native kinds. Many other useful things he 

 knows ; speaks German and French equally well, 

 English and Italian fairly, is well acquainted with 

 ancient languages, and studies medicine besides. 

 ... To utilize the interval spent in the time-con- 

 suming and mechanical work of preparing speci- 

 mens, pinning insects, and the like, we have agreed 

 that, while one is employed, the other shall read 

 aloud. In this way we shall go through various 

 works on physiology, anatomy, and zoology. 



They spent their vacations together; 

 " drew, studied, dissected, arranged speci- 

 mens, discussed theories with their young 

 brains teeming about the growth, struct- 

 ure, and relations of animals and plants." 

 Another young botanist, Karl Schimper, 

 was taken into this Heidelberg intimacy, 

 and the three were inseparable in their stud- 

 ies. At one time Agassiz was kept at home 

 in Switzerland by sickness, but the letters 

 passing between these fellow-inquirers were 

 remarkable. Here is a set of questions pro- 

 pounded by Agassiz to Braun and Schimper 

 at Heidelberg. He was studying the fishes 

 of the Swiss lakes and trying to catalogue 

 them, and he says : 



As I am on the chapter of fishes, I wiU ask 

 you— 1. What are the gill-arches? 2. What the 

 gill-blades ? 3. What is the bladder in fishes ? 



4. What is the cloaca in the egg laying animals? 



5. What signify the many fins of fishes? 6. What 

 is the sac which surrounds the eggs in bombinator 

 obstetricians ? [a creatnre about which there had 

 been former correspondence]. 



Braun, on his part, writes to Agassiz : 

 " On my last sheet I send some nuts for 

 you to pick, some wholly, some half, others 

 not at all cracked." The following are 

 some of the mooted questions : 



1. Where is the first diverging point of the stems 

 and roots In plants, that is to say, the first genicu- 

 lum? 



2. How do you explain the origin of those leaves 

 on the stem which, not arising from distinct geniculi, 

 are placed spirally, or scattered round the stem ? 



8, Why do some plants, especially trees (contra- 

 ry to the ordinary course of development in plants), 

 blossom before they have put forth leaves (elm-trees, 

 willow-trees, and fruit-trees)? 



4. In what succession does the development of 

 the organs of a flower take place — and their forma- 

 tion in the bud ? (compare campanula, papaver). 



6. What are the leaves of the spergula? 



6. Wh.it are the tufted leaves of pine-trees ? 



7. What is individuality in plants? 



It matters not that most of these prob- 

 lems were solved long ago ; they no less 

 illustrate the action of these young minds 

 in carrying forward their fruitful studies. 

 It is to these two botanists, Braun and 

 Schimper, that botany owes the discovery 

 of the law of Phyllotaxis which is hinted 

 at in the first of the above questions. We 

 next find the three friends established at 

 Munich, attending the lectures of Bollin- 

 ger, Martius, Scholling, Oken, the latter of 

 whom was extremely friendly with them, 

 inviting them once a week to his house, 



