THREE CRUISES OF THE BLAKE 167 



orous, and Shearwater, in joint charge of Thomson, 

 Carpenter, and Jeffreys, and culminated in the famous 

 voyage of the Challenger around the world, with which 

 the name of Sir Wyville Thomson will always be asso- 

 ciated. 



At this point, when the study of oceanography was 

 still in its infancy, Agassiz took up his active field work 

 in the science. It is natural that he should have been 

 eager to undertake such explorations. For we have 

 seen, in the preceding chapters, with what interest he 

 followed the explorations of Pourtales and Thomson, 

 assisting in the distribution of their collections, and 

 working up the Echini himself. 



His native abilities and his training combined to make 

 him an ideal leader of oceanographic expeditions. 

 Rarely do we find the savant and the man of action com- 

 bined. Besides his wide knowledge of marine zoology, 

 he possessed a natural aptitude, educated in the devel- 

 opment of a great mining industry, for managing enter- 

 prises and men ; while his training as an engineer was 

 invaluable in equipping, handling, and improving the 

 apparatus used on a vessel engaged in the study of the 

 deep sea. 



Agassiz shared with several other noted men, who 

 made a business of going down to the sea in ships, the 

 misfortune of being easily seasick. Any one afflicted 

 with the malady can easily imagine what fortitude and 

 enthusiasm it must have required to crawl on deck from 

 a bunk of despondency and pain and lose one's self in 

 the eager examination of the treasures which the dredge 

 had just brought to the surface. 



Amidst all the detail that inevitably envelops a scien- 

 tific voyage, he never lost sight of the broader aspects 



