396 LOUIS AGASSI z. 



ease of bearing, joined with the simplicity and 

 candor of a savant who teaches neither by 

 aphorisms nor oracles, but who frankly admits 

 the public to the results of his researches ; 

 the power of generalization always based upon 

 a patient study of facts, which he knows how 

 to present with remarkable clearness in a lan- 

 guage that all can understand. We will not 

 follow the professor in tracing the outlines 

 of his course. Suffice it to say that he in- 

 tends to show in the general development of 

 the animal kingdom the existence of a definite 

 preconceived plan, successively carried out ; in 

 other words, the manifestation of a higher 

 thought, — the thought of God. This crea- 

 tive thought may be studied under three 

 points of view : as shown in the relations 

 which, spite of their manifold diversity, con- 

 nect all the species now living on the surface 

 of the globe ; in their geographical distribu- 

 tion ; and in the succession of beings from 

 primitive epochs until the present condition 

 of things." 



The summer of 1845 was the last which 

 Agassiz passed at home. It was broken by 

 a short and hurried visit to the glacier of 

 the Aar, respecting which no details have 

 been preserved. He did not then know that 



