144 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



a man may receive in return for writing only 

 one ! They are, of course, deducted from his 

 share of the profits. Yesterday we did noth- 

 ing but read Goethe the whole day. 



A brief account of Agassiz's university life, 

 dictated by himself, may fitly close the record 

 of this period. He was often urged to put to- 

 gether a few reminiscences of his life, but he 

 lived so intensely in the present, every day 

 bringing its full task, that he had little time 

 for retrospect, and this sketch remained a frag- 

 ment. It includes some facts already told, but 

 is given almost verbatim, because it forms a 

 sort of summary of his intellectual develop- 

 ment up to this date. 



" I am conscious that at successive periods of 

 my life I have employed very different means 

 and followed very different systems of study. 

 I may, therefore, be allowed to offer the result 

 of my experience as a contribution toward the 

 building up of a sound method for the promo- 

 tion of the study of nature. 



" At first, when a mere boy, twelve years of 

 age, I did what most beginners do. I picked 

 up whatever I could lay my hands on, and 

 tried, by such books and authorities as I had 

 at my command, to find the names of these 



