494 PIONEERS OF SCIENCE IN AMERICA. 



from their meeting under such favourable circumstances. It 

 certainly was very great, and we need no other proof of the 

 strong impulse they all received from it than the new ardour 

 with which each pursued and subsequently performed his life- 

 work." 



From Carlsruhe young Guyot went to Stuttgart, and in 

 1827 returned to his home in Switzerland. Becoming im- 

 pressed with a sense of duty to study for the ministry, he be- 

 gan at Neuchatel a course leading in that direction. In 1829 

 he repaired to Berlin in order to complete his theological 

 studies; but an obstacle was thrown in his path by an injury 

 to his voice, produced by the severe climate of Berlin, from 

 which he never fully recovered. The love of science was 

 strong within him, and the new field which the lectures of 

 Steffens, Hegel, and Ritter opened up to his view decided him 

 to enter upon the study of Nature as his life-work. Having 

 thus decided, he determined to lay his foundations broad and 

 deep, and with this end in view he attended lectures on nearly 

 all departments of natural science chemistry, physics, meteor- 

 ology, zoology, geology, and physical geography, alike re- 

 ceived attention, and his subsequent career showed the great 

 wisdom of this thorough preparation. In 1835 he received 

 the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, and went to Paris to take 

 charge of the education of the sons of Count de Pourtales-Gor- 

 gier. Here he resided more than four years, occupying his leis- 

 ure with scientific studies and extending them in vacation tours 

 taken with his pupils through various European countries. He 

 also took up the subject of history under Michelet, and, like 

 everything else which he touched, made it valuable in the 

 great pursuit of his life, the study of earth and man. 



In the spring of 1838 Agassiz came to Paris, enthusiastic 

 upon the subject of glaciers, and induced Guyot to turn his 

 attention in the same direction. When the summer came on 

 the latter went to Switzerland and began a study on the gla- 

 ciers of that country. The rich results of his summer's work 

 were told to Agassiz, and were presented in a paper before 

 the Geological Society of France during the session of 1838, 

 at Porrentuy. This paper is mentioned in the Proceedings 

 of the society (Bulletin, vol. ix, p. 407), but, owing to a long 

 illness of the author during the following winter, it could not 

 be printed. 



