LOUIS AGASSIZ 167 



chemistry on the next, and do good work in both. As in a concert, 

 all are musicians one plays one instrument, and one another, but 

 none all in perfection.' 



" 'You cannot do without one specialty. You must have some 

 base line to measure the work, and attainments of others. For 

 a general view of the subject, study the history of the sciences. 

 Broad knowledge of all Nature has been the possession of no 

 naturalist except Humboldt, and general relations constituted his 

 specialty.' 



" 'Select such subjects that your pupils cannot walk without see- 

 ing them. Train your pupils to be observers, and have them 

 provided with the specimens about which you speak. If you can 

 find nothing better, take a house fly or cricket, and let each one 

 hold a specimen and examine it as you talk.' 



" 'In 1847 I gave an address at Newton, Mass., before a Teach- 

 ers' Institute conducted by Horace Mann. My subject was 

 grasshoppers. I passed around a large jar of these insects, and 

 made every teacher take one and hold it while I was speaking. 

 If any one dropped the insect, I stopped until he picked it up. 

 This was at that time a great innovation, and excited much 

 laughter and derision. There can be no true progress in the 

 teaching of natural science until such methods become general.' 



" 'There is no part of the country where in the summer you can- 

 not get a sufficient supply of the best specimens. Teach your 

 children to bring them in themselves. Take your text from the 

 brooks, not from the booksellers. It is better to have a few forms 

 well known, than to teach a little about many hundred species. 

 Better a dozen specimens thoroughly studied as the result of the 

 first year's work, than to have two thousand dollars worth of shells 

 and corals bought from a curiosity shop. The dozen animals would 

 be your own.' 



" 'You 1 will find the same elements of instruction all about you 

 wherever you may be teaching. You can take your classes out 

 and give them the same lessons, and lead them up to the same 

 subjects you are yourselves studying here. And this method of 

 teaching children is so natural, so suggestive, so true. That is 

 the charm of teaching from Nature herself. No one can warp 

 her to suit his own views. She brings us back to absolute truth 

 as often as we wander.' 



" 'The study of Nature is an intercourse with the highest mind. 



1 In this paragraph, quoted by Mrs. Agassiz (Life and Letters of Agassiz, 

 p. 775) I have adopted the wording as given by her. 



