THE AGASSIZ SCHOOL 47 



Mrs. Agassiz's own words in the Life of Agassiz give the 

 story of the foundation of the school and the picture of it 

 that she desired to have transmitted: 



In consultation with friends these plans [for the 

 school] were partly matured before they were con- 

 fided to Agassiz himself. When the domestic con- 

 spirators revealed their plot, his surprise and pleas- 

 ure knew no bounds. ... He claimed at once an 

 active share in the work. Under his inspiring influ- 

 ence the outline enlarged, and when the circular an- 

 nouncing the school was issued, it appeared under his 

 name, and contained these words in addition to the 

 programme of studies : " I shall myself superintend the 

 methods of instruction and tuition, and while main- 

 taining that regularity and precision in the studies so 

 important to mental training shall endeavor to pre- 

 vent the necessary discipline from falling into a life- 

 less routine, alike deadening to the spirit of teacher 

 and pupil. It is farther my intention to take the im- 

 mediate charge of the instruction in Physical Geogra- 

 phy, Natural History, and Botany, giving a lecture 

 daily, Saturdays excepted, on one or other of these 

 subjects, illustrated by specimens, models, maps and 

 drawings." . . . [Agassiz] never had an audience more 

 responsive and eager to learn than the sixty or seventy 

 girls who gathered every day at the close of the 

 morning to hear his daily lecture; nor did he ever 

 give to any audience lectures more carefully pre- 

 pared, more comprehensive in their range of subjects, 

 more lofty in their tone of thought. . . . The lecture 



