156 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



thors who wearied me, and I confess that at 

 that age Linnaeus was among the number. I 

 found him dry, pedantic, dogmatic, conceited ; 

 while I was charmed with Aristotle, whose 

 zoology I have read and re-read ever since at 

 intervals of two or three years. I must, how- 

 ever, do myself the justice to add, that after 

 I knew more of the history of our science I 

 learned also duly to reverence Linnaeus. But 

 a student, already familiar with the works of 

 Cuvier, and but indifferently acquainted with 

 the earlier progress of zoology, could hardly 

 appreciate the merit of the great reformer of 

 natural history. His defects were easily per- 

 ceived, and it required more familiarity than 

 mine then was with the gradual growth of 

 the science, from Aristotle onward, to under- 

 stand how great and beneficial an influence 

 Linnaeus had exerted upon modern natural 

 history. 



" I cannot review my Munich life without 

 deep gratitude. The city teemed with re- 

 sources for the student in arts, letters, philos- 

 ophy, and science. It was distinguished at 

 that time for activity in public as well as in 

 academic life. The king seemed liberal ; he 

 was the friend of poets and artists, and aimed 

 at concentrating all the glories of Germany 

 in his new university. I thus enjoyed for a 



