FRIENDSHIP WITH BRAUN. 25 



ralist who had just come, and who seemed full 

 of enthusiasm for his work. The two young 

 men left the lecture-room together, and from 

 that time their studies, their excursions, their 

 amusements, were undertaken and pursued in 

 each other's company. In their long rambles, 

 while they collected specimens in their differ- 

 ent departments of Natural History, Braun 

 learned zoology from Agassiz, and he, in his 

 turn, learned botany from Braun. This was, 

 perhaps, the reason why Alexander Braun, 

 afterward Director of the Botanical Gardens 

 in Berlin, knew more of zoology than other 

 botanists, while Agassiz himself combined an 

 extensive knowledge of botany with his study 

 of the animal kingdom. That the attraction 

 was mutual may be seen by the following ex- 

 tract from a letter of Alexander Braun to his 

 father. 



BRAUN TO HIS FATHER. 



HEIDELBERG, May 12, 1826. 



... In my leisure hours, between the fore- 

 noon and afternoon lectures, I go to the dis- 

 secting-room, where, in company with another 

 young naturalist who has appeared like a 

 rare comet on the Heidelberg horizon, I dis- 

 sect all manner of beasts, such as dogs, cats, 

 birds, fishes, and even smaller fry, snails, but- 



