II. 



THE four years spent at Heidelberg 

 and Munich are among the most pictu- 

 resque in Agassiz's life. In his letters 

 and in those of his friend Alexander 

 Braun, we are fortunate enough to have 

 the impressions and hopes of the ambi- 

 tious young fellows and the very spirit 

 of the place and time fixed forever. E"o 

 narrative can paint as vividly as these 

 unconscious letters. It was a true Ger- 

 man student life, with its migrations 

 from university to university, its vaca- 

 tion tramps, its ardent intellectual en- 

 thusiasms, not without the obbligato ac- 

 companiment of clinking rapiers and 

 beer-mugs. Duels and love-making are 

 dimly guessed through the cloud of 

 tobacco smoke "so tpiick you might 

 have cut it with a knife ?? that floats 

 about the three brilliant companions, 

 Braun, Schiinper, and Agassiz, whose 

 room at Munich was known as "The 

 Little Academy." 



