124 LOUIS AGASSIZ 



spirit sleeps in the stone, dreams in the 

 animal, and wakes in the man." "Nat- 

 ure is Spirit visible : Spirit is invisible 

 Nature." All these sayings have one 

 central notion, which may seem bold in 

 prose, but in poetry is common to all 

 times and all races. One can trace it all 

 the way from the Orient to the Yankee 

 poet who is most inclined to speak of the 

 " meaning" of natural phenomena or 

 natural objects. 



"They are but sailing foam -bells 



Along Thought's causing stream, 



And take their shape and sun-colour 



From him that sends the dream." 



But Agassiz writes in sober prose ; 

 and the peculiar flavour in his writings 

 comes from his taking the vocabulary of 

 the mystic, and interpreting it as literally 

 true. 



The average man who gives the will of 

 God as an explanation uses the words in 

 rather a Pickwickian sense, as is strik- 



