96 NATHANIEL SOUTHGATE SHALER 



obdurate, refusing to recommend some who had been with 

 him for many years and had succeeded in their special work, 

 giving as reason for his denial that they were "too ignorant." 



The examination Agassiz gave me was directed first to find 

 that I knew enough Latin and Greek to make use of those lan- 

 guages; that I could patter a little of them evidently pleased 

 him. He did n't care for those detestable rules for scanning. 

 Then came German and French, which were also approved: 

 I could read both, and spoke the former fairly well. He did 

 not probe me in my weakest place, mathematics, for the good 

 reason that, badly as I was off in that subject, he was in a worse 

 plight. Then asking me concerning my reading, he found that 

 I had read the essay on classification and had noted in it the 

 influence of Schelling's views. Most of his questioning related 

 to this field, and the more than fair beginning of our relations 

 then made was due to the fact that I had some enlargement on 

 that side. So, too, he was pleased to find that I had managed 

 a lot of Latin, Greek, and German poetry, and had been trained 

 with the sword. He completed this inquiry by requiring that 

 I bring my foils and masks for a bout. In this test he did not 

 fare well, for, though not untrained, he evidently knew more 

 of the Schldger than of the rapier. He was heavy-handed and 

 lacked finesse. This, with my previous experience, led me to 

 the conclusion that I had struck upon a kind of tutor in Cam- 

 bridge not known in Kentucky. 



While Agassiz questioned me carefully as to what I had read 

 and what I had seen, he seemed in this preliminary going over 

 in no wise concerned to find what I knew about fossils, rocks, 

 animals, and plants; he put aside the offerings of my scanty 

 lore. This offended me a bit, as I recall, for the reason that I 

 thought I knew, and for a self-taught lad really did know, a good 

 deal about such matters, especially as to the habits of insects, 

 particularly spiders. It seemed hard to be denied the chance 

 to make my parade; but I afterward saw what this meant, 

 that he did not intend to let me begin my tasks by posing as a 



