462 



which do equal credit to the naturalists who planned them, and to the 

 State and people whose intelligent munificence renders their publica- 

 tion possible. 



Cuvier's great work, the ' Ossemens Fossiles,' embraces, as is well 

 known, an account of the fossil remains of all the higher classes of 

 vertebrated animals ; but the founder of palaeontology left the diffi- 

 culties of fossil ichthyology to be grappled with by others, and dis- 

 cerning the especial aptitude of Agassiz for the undertaking, indicated 

 him as his continuator in this department. Nor can it be denied 

 that the author of the ' Recherches sur les Poissons fossiles,' and the 

 ' Monographic des Poissons fossiles du vieux gres rouge/ has 

 amply justified the sagacious anticipation of Cuvier. Travelling 

 over the Continent and these islands from one collection to another 

 never possessing specimens of his own, but obliged to trust to 

 notes and to the sketches of the excellent artist who accompanied 

 him dealing with remains which were almost always fragmentary 

 and presented far less definite characters to the anatomist than the 

 bones of higher animals, Professor Agassiz, nevertheless, succeeded, 

 in the course of eleven years, in producing works which form a worthy 

 continuation of the ' Ossemens Fossiles ;' and this not merely on 

 account of the excellent descriptions and figures of fossil fish, in vast 

 number, which first appeared in their pages, but because associated 

 with the history of extinct forms are all the complementary investiga- 

 tions into the osteology, dentition, and scale-structure of their recent 

 allies required for their elucidation. 



The award of the Copley Medal for these investigations alone would 

 be regarded but as an act of justice by the students of Paleontology, 

 but it must not be forgotten that Professor Agassiz has made many 

 other contributions of no slight value to this branch of science. 



It might be supposed that labours of such magnitude and diffi- 

 culty as those which have just been mentioned, would suffice to give 

 full occupation to one mind, whatever its activity ; but while Professor 

 Agassiz was thus becoming familiar to zoologists and palaeontologists 

 as one of the most active members of their confraternity, geologists 

 and physical geographers knew him as a vigorous worker and bold 

 theorist in their departments. In fact, what is now known as the 

 * Glacial Theory,' although not altogether originated by Professor 

 Agassiz, was greatly extended by him, and assuredly owes the position 



