100 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 



and private museums, some of which he was permitted 

 to retain from five to ten years. 



He came to London with letters of introduction to 

 Sir Roderick Murchison. 



" You have been studying nature," said the great 

 man. " What have you learned ? " 



Agassiz was of a timid nature and the opposite of 

 egotistical, and after a pause said, 



" I think I know a little about fishes." 



" Very well. There will be a meeting of the 

 Royal Society to-night. I will take you with me 

 there." 



Towards the close of the meeting that night he said : 

 " I have a young friend here from Switzerland who 

 thinks he knows something about fishes ; how much 

 I have a fancy to try. There is under this cloth a 

 perfect skeleton of a fish which existed long before 

 man." He then gave some particulars as to where it 

 was found, and afterwards said to Agassiz, 



"Can you sketch for me on the blackboard your 

 idea of this fish?" 



Agassiz took up the chalk, hesitated a moment, and 

 then rapidly sketched a fish. Sir Roderick held up the 

 specimen, and it was found that the drawing was correct 

 in every bone and line, and there was a burst of 

 applause. 



Agassiz said that that was the proudest moment of 

 his life. 



In 1830 he went to Vienna where he stayed a year, 

 attending at the hospitals, and studying in the Imperial 

 Museum the splendid collection of sturgeons of the 



