America has had but four men of unmistakable origi- LITTLE 



nality. These are: Franklin, Emerson, Whitman and JOURNEYS 



Edison. Each worked in a field particularly his own, 



and the genius of each one was recognized in Europe 



before we were willing to acknowledge it here. But 



the word "scientist" can hardly be properly applied 



to any of these men. For want of a better name we 



call John Fiske our greatest scientist. He was the 



most learned man of h|s day. In the realm of Physical 



Geography no American could approach him. The 



combined knowledge of everybody else was his he 



had a passjipnfor facts, a memory like a day-book, and 



his systematic mind was disciplined until it was a 



regular Dewey card-index. 



Louis Agassiz was born in Europe, but he was ours 



by adoption, and he might dispute with Fiske the title 



to first place in the American Pantheon of Science 



were it not for the fact that the Law of Evolution was 



beyond his ken, being obscured by a marked, myopic, 



theological, stigmatic squint. 



Agassiz died in his sins, unconvinced, unrepentant, 



refusing the rite of extreme unction that Asa Gray 



offered him, his sensitive spirit writhing at mention of 



the word "Darwin." On his tomb, Clio with moving 



finger has carved one of his own sentences, nor all 



your tears shall blot a line of it. And these are the 



words of Agassiz: " Darwinism seeks to dethrone God, 



and replace Him by a blind force called The Law of 



Evolution." So passed away the great soul of Louis 



Agassiz. 



145 



