LOUIS AGASSIZ. 243 



age of 32, the Academj' of Sciences made him a corresponding member. 

 Large in stature, well formed, endowed with excellent health, with an 

 amiable face, and an eye which beamed with unusual intelligence, Agas- 

 siz gained the sympathy of all who approached him. His countenance 

 was frank and open, his manner winning; he animated the reunions of 

 the naturalist and the work of the laboratories by his vivacity and good 

 humor. 



" He was," said one of his scientific adversaries (formerlv among his 

 devoted friends), " a man full of kindness, of enthusiasm for science, 

 and easily moved by all that is beautiful and good." A warmth which 

 •nothing could repress was with him united with facility' and charm of 

 expression. Always ready to frame theories, to discuss them, and to 

 advance new ideas, he captivated his auditors by the vigor and clear- 

 ness of his exposition. His public and class lectures, too, were always 

 extraordinarily successful. Even when he discussed the most abstruse 

 subject his auditors hung upon his lips. The talent for speaking, which 

 he possessed to a high degree, was one of his most valuable means of 

 influence, and contributed greatly to his celebrity. 



He was premiuently a zoologist; he distinguished himself particularly 

 by the justness and promptitude of his perceptions. He knew by the 

 first inspection all a collection contained, the new specimens, the types 

 ab'eady described, and he remembered admirably what he had seen. 

 He has been accused of being too ready to form new species. The 

 learned geologist of Berlin, Leopold von Buch, whose peculiar face and 

 eccentric costume often excited curiosity, said one day, " When I am at 

 isTeuchatel, and I knock at the door of Agassiz, I am always afraid." 

 " Why '?" asked some one. ''I dread lest he will take me for a new 

 species." Science has, however, ratified most of the distinctions he es- 

 tablished. His just regard for the value of characteristics led him to 

 circumscribe species within narrower limits, and in this respect he had 

 a happy influence upon paleontology. 



His zoological works, which Avere numerous enough to have absorbed 

 several ordinary lives, still did not occupy all his time, and a new field 

 of research was opened to him. Let us then, for a moment, leave the 

 museums and laboratories, and transport ourselves to the foot of the 

 glaciers of the Alps, where we will soon see him arrive with his com- 

 panions. 



For some time the attention of naturalists had been drawn to the 

 l)reseuce throughout a large part of Switzerland of blocks of various 

 dimensions, composed of rock different in nature from the soil upon 

 which they rest. How did these rocks, to which has been given the 

 name of erratic blocks, and which are of Alpine origin, come to be dis- 

 persed over the Swiss plain and upon the Jura"? Two theories are given; 

 Leopold von Buch, Elie von Beaumont, and others, maintain that they 

 were transported hy water. But their size, sometimes enormous, and 

 the height at which they are found upon the sides of the Jura, render 



