LOUIS AGASSIZ. ' 261 



cToubteclly, several of the ideas he put in circulation have been dropped, 

 several of his theories have been abandoned, but the discussions they 

 l)roduced have been a fruitful source of progress. The temple of knowl- 

 edge is not raised by a single effort, and it is the clashing of ideas which 

 produces light. The work he executed in the field of zoology and of paleon- 

 tology is of very high importance. He i^ossessed the double merit of 

 accomplisliing great things himself, and of knowing how to make science 

 popular without dimiuishing its prestige. Everywhere he found friends 

 and supporters. In Switzerland, in Germany, in England, in America, 

 in every country where he took up his abode he made liimself the center 

 of the scientific movement and succeeded in interesting the public. His 

 sojourn in Keuchatel excited in that city an impulse the happy influ- 

 ence of which is felt even to this day. Although when he first went 

 to the United States there existed scientific culture in that country, and 

 many distinguished observers, to Agassiz must be attributed the difiu- 

 sion of a new enthusiasm for the sciences and much of the success with 

 wliich they are now cultivated. This result is not due to chance, but to 

 the noble and legitimate intiuence exercised by the superior intelligence 

 of the savant, and the amiable qualities of the man. 



