6 LOUIS AGASSIZ 



lationship or old association. His letters 

 to Auguste have a delightful elder- 

 brotherly tone through all their frank 

 affection. With Auguste he can safely 

 allow himself the luxury of a lecture, 

 whether it be four pages on the elephant 

 of the Lena or a disquisition on the 

 rejected commercial career at Neuch&tel. 

 " I earnestly advise you to while away 

 your leisure hours with study," he 

 writes, when twenty years old, to his 

 brother of eighteen. "Read much, but 

 only good and useful books. . . . Ke- 

 member that statistical and political 

 knowledge alone distinguishes the true 

 merchant from the mere huckster in 

 coffee and candles. ... A merchant 

 familiar with the products of a country, 

 its resources, its commercial and political 

 relations with other countries, is much 

 less likely to enter into speculations 

 based on false ideas, and therefore of 

 doubtful issue. Write me about what 

 you are reading and about your plans 



