168 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



After a little time spent over the breakfast 

 table in talk with the ladies of the family, 

 while Cuvier opened his letters, papers, etc., 

 they returned to the working room, and were 

 busily engaged in their separate occupations 

 when Agassiz was surprised to hear the clock 

 strike five, the hour for his dinner. He ex- 

 pressed his regret that he had not quite fin- 

 ished his work, but said that as he belonged to 

 a student's table his dinner would not wait for 

 him, and he would return soon to complete 

 his task. Cuvier answered that he was quite 

 right not to neglect his regular hours for 

 meals, and commended his devotion to study, 

 but added, " Be careful, and remember that 

 work kills.' 9 They were the last words he 

 heard from his beloved teacher. The next 

 day, as Cuvier was going up to the tribune in 

 the Chamber of Deputies, he fell, was taken 

 up paralyzed, and carried home. Agassiz 

 never saw him again. 1 



In order to keep intact these few data re- 

 specting his personal relations with Cuvier, as 

 told in later years by Agassiz himself, the 



1 This warning of Cuvier, " Work kills," strangely recalls 

 Johannes Miiller's " Blood clings to work ; " the one seems 

 the echo of the other. See Memoir of Johannes Muller, by 

 Rudolf Virchow, p. 38. 



