A COMMERCIAL LIFE ABANDONED. 15 



studies. They were not difficult to persuade ; 

 indeed, only want of means, never want of 

 will, limited the educational advantages they 

 gave to their children. 



It was decided, therefore, that he should go 

 to Lausanne. Here his love for everything 

 bearing on the study of nature was confirmed. 

 Professor Chavannes, Director of the Can- 

 tonal Museum, in whom he found not only 

 an interesting teacher, but a friend who sym- 

 pathized with his favorite tastes, possessed 

 the only collection of Natural History in the 

 Canton de Vaud. To this Agassiz now had 

 access. His uncle, Dr. Mathias Mayor, his 

 mother's brother and a physician of note in 

 Lausanne, whose opinion had great weight 

 with M. and Mme. Agassiz, was also attracted 

 by the boy's intelligent interest in anatomy 

 and kindred subjects. He advised that his 

 nephew should be allowed to study medicine, 

 and at the close of Agassiz' s college course 

 at Lausanne the commercial plan was finally 

 abandoned, and he was permitted to choose 

 the medical profession as the one most akin to 

 his inclination. 



Being now seventeen years of age, he went 

 to the medical school of Zurich. Here, for 

 the first time, he came into contact with men 



