40 LOUIS AGASSIZ 



happy chapters to follow. To all he can 

 say, they have but one answer : Let him 

 first take his medical degree, and then 

 discuss the next step. " He was perhaps 

 apt to think that the best medical teach- 

 ing would be found in connection with 

 the best zoological museum" ; and there 

 is a delightful passage in one of his later 

 letters to his father, when he already 

 wrote himself M.D. "I do not believe 

 it important that a young physician 

 should familiarise himself with a great 

 variety of curative methods," remarks 

 this hopeful young doctor, "so I try to 

 observe carefully the patient and his 

 disease, rather than to remember the 

 medicaments applied in special cases." 

 Agassiz wanted the appearance of his 

 book to be a surprise to his parents, and 

 he was much disappointed that the sur- 

 prise failed through his having neglected 

 to bind a friend to secrecy. In every- 

 thing else the plan was perfectly success- 

 ful. Praise of their son's brilliant abili- 



