LOUIS AGASSIZ: 



A BIOGKAPHICAL NOTICE. 



By Ernest Favre. 



[Translated for the Smitlisoman Institution* by M. A. Henry.] 



The name of Agassiz, for twenty years intimately connected with the 

 histoiy of science in America, has nevertheless retained its popularity ia 

 Switzerland, where his works have a great celebrity. It is in our country 

 that he was born, in our country he acquired renown, and Switzerland 

 can never forget that he is among the number of her children. Without 

 other resource than his intelligence and liis energy, he rose to the first 

 rank among the eminent men of science of our country. AYe desire in 

 these few pages, as a souvenir of this great scientist, to notice briefly 

 the various phases of his life and the principal subjects of investigation 

 he pursued.! 



I. 



Louis Jean Eodolphe Agassiz was born on the 28th of May, 1807, in 

 the rectory of the village of IMotier, situated in the canton of Friburg, on 

 the shore of Lake IMorat. iSTothing in his lamily nor in his surroundings 

 gave promise of the brilliant destiny which awaited him. His ancestors 

 had filled the ofQce of pastor for six generations ; his father, deprived of 

 fortune, had embraced the hereditary occupation. It was then entirely 

 to his own energy, his talents, and his genius that he owed the high 

 position he afterward attained. 



There is little to be said of his early years. From his infancy the ob- 

 servation of animals was one of his greatest pleasures. He passed many 

 hours fishing in the lake and in studying the habits of fishes ; he watched 

 with interest the metamorphoses of the caterpillar. The same taste was 

 manifested both at Bienne, where he pursued his studies in the college, 

 and at Orbe, where he resided later, by his passion for collecting insects 

 and plants, and he Vv^as often heard explaining with enthusiasm to his 

 younger brother phenomena of nature he as yet but imperfectly under- 



*From tlie " Archives des Sciences de la Biblioth&que Universelle, Geneve, Mai 1877, 

 tome LXix." 



tin the " Catalogue of Scientific Pa.pers," published by the Eoyal Society of Lon- 

 don, is found a list of 130 publications made by Agassiz. This list includes only 

 articles wliich have appeared in scientific periodicals. To it must therefore be added 

 all his various works published separately, as well as his numerous contributions since 



the vear 18G3, at which date the above catalogue terminated. 



^ ' 236 



