570 LOUIS AGASSIZ, 



tory of Germany has shown that the moment 

 of political danger may be that in which 

 the firmest foundations for the intellectual 

 strength of a country may be laid. When in 

 1806, after the battle of Jena, the Prussian 

 monarchy had been crushed and the king was 

 despairing even of the existence of his realm, 

 he planned the foundation of the University 

 of Berlin, by the advice of Fichte, the philoso- 

 pher. It was inaugurated the very year that 

 the despondent monarch returned to his capi- 

 tal. Since that time it has been the greatest 

 glory of the Prussian crown, and has made 

 Berlin the intellectual centre of Germany." 



It may be added here as an evidence of Ag- 

 assiz's faith in the institutions of the United 

 States and in her intellectual progress that he 

 was himself naturalized in the darkest hour 

 of the war, when the final disruption of the 

 country was confidently prophesied by her 

 enemies. By formally becoming a citizen of 

 the United States he desired to attest his per- 

 sonal confidence in the stability of her Consti- 

 tution and the justice of her cause. 



Some light is thrown upon the work and 

 incidents of these years by the following let- 

 ters : — 



