LOUIS AGASSIZ 



ZOOLOGIST 



1807-1873 

 BY CHARLES FREDERICK HOLDER 



"I WISH to be a good son, a good citizen, and the first naturalist 

 of my time. I feel within me the strength of a whole generation 

 to work towards this end, and I shall reach it, if the means be not 

 wanting." So wrote young Agassiz to his father on the threshold 

 of his career. He was a good son, he became a good citizen and 

 in the opinion of many of his peers he was the first naturalist of 

 his time, ranking with Darwin, Huxley and Spencer, and if brevity 

 alone was desired the historian might stop here, and let his own 

 outline of principles stand. 



It is a pleasure to have known Louis Agassiz, to have seen his 

 genial smile, and to remember his strong personality. The 

 writer lived at Lynn, and with the late Dr. J. B. Holder often 

 walked over to Nahant and visited Agassiz in his artistic home on 

 the rocky peninsula which reaches out into Massachusetts Bay. 

 In Dr. Holder's correspondence - covering nearly twenty years' 

 acquaintance with Agassiz many interesting letters occur referring 

 to collecting tours and dredging in Massachusetts Bay, which 

 ended in Dr. Holder going to Tortugas, Florida, to make an elab- 

 orate study of the Florida reef, which was carried on for six or 

 seven years. During this period the writer had, for the pleasure 

 it afforded, an active participation in the collective part of the plan 

 of the work; and recalls the remarkable interest of Agassiz in the 

 work, his long and interesting letters, his delight at the many new 

 species found and described. Even when Dr. Holder's deductions 

 regarding the growth of corals were, to some extent antagonistic 



