CHAPTER VII. 



1832-1834: ^t. 25-27. 



Enters upon his Professorship at Neuchatel. — First Lecture. 

 — Success as a Teacher. — Love of Teaching. — Influence 

 upon the Scientific Life of Neuchatel. — Proposal from 

 University of Heidelberg. — Proposal declined. — Threat- 

 ened Blindness. — Correspondence with Humboldt. — Mar- 

 riage. — Invitation from Charpentier. — Invitation to visit 

 England. — Wollaston Prize. — First Number of " Poissons 

 Fossiles." — Review of the Work. 



The following autumn Agassiz assumed the 

 duties of his professorship at Neuchatel. His 

 opening lecture " Upon the Relations between 

 the difPerent branches of Natural History and 

 the then prevailing tendencies of all the 

 Sciences " was given on the 12th of Novem- 

 ber, 1832, at the Hotel de Yille. Judged by 

 the impression made upon the listeners as re- 

 corded at the time, this introductory discourse 

 must have been characterized by the same 

 broad spirit of generalization which marked 

 Agassiz's later teaching. Facts in his hands 

 fell into their orderly relation as parts of a 

 connected whole, and were never presented 



