110 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



promotion. They granted our request on con- 

 dition of our promise (jurisjurandi loco polli- 

 citi sumus) to answer the questions propounded 

 without help from any one and without con- 

 sulting books. Among other things I had to 

 develop a natural system of zoology, to show 

 the relation between human history and nat- 

 ural history, to determine the true basis and 

 limits of the philosophy of nature, etc. As 

 an inaugural dissertation, I presented some 

 general and novel considerations on the for- 

 mation of the skeleton throughout the animal 

 kingdom, from the infusoria, mollusks, and 

 insects to the vertebrates, properly so called. 

 The examiners were sufficiently satisfied with 

 my answers to give me my degree the 23d 

 or 24th of April, without waiting for the col- 

 loquium and promotion, writing to me that 

 they were satisfied with my examination, and 

 therefore forwarded my diploma without re- 

 gard to the oral examination. . . . The Dean 

 of the Faculty, in inclosing it to me, added 

 that he hoped before long to see me profes- 

 sor, and no less the ornament of my uni- 

 versity in that position than I had hitherto 

 been as student. I must try not to disappoint 

 him. . . . 



