16 LOUIS AGASSIZ 



Oken are perhaps the most famous upon 

 its list of teachers, at least for the gen- 

 eral reader. Dollinger, Martius, Zuc- 

 carini, Schubert, Wagler, and many 

 others follow for the student of natural 

 science. "I cannot review my Munich 

 life without deep gratitude/' wrote 

 Agassiz himself, long afterward. "The 

 city teemed with resources for the stu- 

 dent in arts, letters, philosophy, and sci- 

 ence. It was distinguished at that time 

 for activity in public as well as in aca- 

 demic life. The king seemed liberal; 

 he was the friend of poets and artists, 

 and aimed at concentrating all the glo- 

 ries of Germany in his new university. 

 I thus enjoyed for a few years the ex- 

 ample of the most brilliant intellects and 

 that stimulus which is^ given by compe- 

 tition between men equally eminent in 

 different spheres of human knowledge. 

 Under such circumstances a man either 

 subsides into the position of a follower 

 in the ranks that gather around a mas- 



