COOPER 



one than at first sight may appear, that can 

 be so taken over, and can be ahnost directly 

 utiHzed. Nor is the possible utiKty of imi- 

 tation diminished, but rather increased, when 

 we contemplate the method of a teacher hke 

 Agassiz, whose mental operations had the 

 simphcity of genius, and in whose habits of 

 instruction the fundamentals of a right pro- 

 cedure become very obvious. 



Yet there is a second main reason for our 

 interest. Within recent years we have wit- 

 nessed an extraordinary development in certain 

 studies, which, though superficially different 

 from those pursued by Agassiz, have an under- 

 lying bond of unity with them, but which are 

 generally carried on without reference to 

 principles governing the investigation of every 

 organism and all organic Hfe. I have in mind, 

 particularly, the spread of Hterary and hnguistic 

 study in America during the last few decades, 

 and the lack of a common standard of judg- 

 ment among those who engage in such study. 

 Most persons do not, in fact, discern the close, 

 though not obvious, relation between investi- 

 gation in biology or zoology and the observation 



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