LOUIS AGASSIZ 1 

 By CHARLES D. WALCOTT 



Louis Agassiz was a man of simple but intensely active life. Com- 

 ing to us in 1848 for a special purpose, he met with so cordial a 

 reception that flattering offers from European institutions could not 

 induce him to return ; and, although such a life as his cannot be lim- 

 ited by boundaries of space or time, we feel a peculiar pleasure and 

 satisfaction in placing his name among those of our great men in this 

 our Hall of Fame. 



Agassiz was not only a pioneer in scientific investigation and 

 achievement, but one of the first to combine the qualities of a great 

 naturalist, leader of men, and lover of the masses of the people. 

 We sometimes forget that many of the fundamental conceptions 

 which underlie so much of the science of today are the products of 

 his genius and the fruitage of his many years of labor. He taught 

 American students how to think in terms of science, and he taught 

 the American nation that to science it owed good will and cordial 

 support. 



Few men have lived who combined such breadth of intellect with 

 such a fascinating personality, such genuine sincerity, such openness 

 and warmth of manner, such depth of religious nature, such perfect 

 unselfishness, and such devotion to science. 



To Agassiz nothing was commonplace. He marshalled facts and 

 ever kept them at command in the hope that they might throw light 

 on some one of the great problems which he realized were to press 

 more and more insistently for solution. The enduring value of his 

 contributions to science is due to the soundness of the principles 

 underlying them. At twenty-two years of age. Martins recognized 

 his rare ability by allowing him to edit a volume on Brazilian fishes, 

 and at twenty-five Cuvier transferred to him the treasures he had 

 gathered for his work on fossil fishes. This early recognition stim- 

 ulated him greatly and led him to master every subject that he 

 undertook to investigate. Some one has said respecting him, that 

 there never was a man with an "intellect more thoroughly disciplined 



1 Tribute to the memory of Agassiz at the unveiling of the Agassiz bust and 

 tablet in the Hall of Fame, New York University, May 30, 1907. 

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