BOSTON SCIENTIFIC MEN 105 



and Rogers, who were chronic enemies, by the ears. When 

 this could be accomplished, and to that end there were many 

 contrivings among the youngsters, we were sure of good 

 entertainment, often protracted over several successive meet- 

 ings. Agassiz was admirable in discourse, when at his best 

 the most simply eloquent speaker I have ever heard, but 

 his capacity for debate was small. Rogers, on the other hand, 

 was not only an able and learned geologist, but very skilful in 

 argument, with a keen sense of the logic which should control 

 statements. Oftenest these debates related to the theories of 

 the glacial period, but they covered much ground. In 1860 

 and 1861 the Darwinian hypothesis was often in the field, 

 though at this time and place it had little support from any 

 one except Asa Gray, who could rarely be induced to say 

 anything about it. 



At this stage of my life, about 1860, I came into close rela- 

 tions with Jeffries Wyman, whose lectures I regularly attended, 

 and in whose laboratory work I took a small share. In some 

 ways he was the most perfect naturalist I have ever known. 

 His physical weakness, combined with his exceeding modesty, 

 shyness is the better word for it, kept him from winning 

 a large place in science; but within the limits of his powers, he 

 had the best-balanced mind it has been my good fortune to 

 come into contact with. His work on the question of sponta- 

 neous generation, a part of which I saw, was a very model of 

 how an inquiry should be made. Though he published but little, 

 his store of knowledge of the whole field of natural history was 

 surprisingly great, and, as I came to find, it greatly exceeded 

 that of my master Agassiz in its range and accuracy. A part 

 of his quality was his certainty and the balanced judgment 

 which enabled him unerringly to attain to it. As a proof of 

 this quality, I note an instance. From an Indian mound I had 

 obtained two lots of bone which were evidently fragments of 

 human tibise, though they were somewhat malformed. To make 

 sure of this, though the determination seemed certain, I took 



