LOUIS AGASSIZ. 203 



The lecture of tlie evening was repeated the next afternoon, and stiP 

 there was not room; still there were unsatisfied ears; still there were 

 longing hearts. He met the little coteries of amateurs, and amazed 

 them as he narrated the lengtli and persistency of liis observations of 

 some of the changes and transformations of the lower forms of living- 

 creatures. One of the most eminent of the microscopists of the city 

 stated to a club the results of three or four days' observations of some 

 objects under his glass ; and those obtained were so meager that he had 

 laid all further inquiry aside. A discussion was started, and after an 

 expression of opinion from different members respecting ihepraGticahilitij 

 of obtaining any satisfactory results as to the subject under investi- 

 gation, Agassiz, their guest, was called upon for his opinion. He amazed 

 them all by saying that he had made an investigation of this subject, 

 but instead of continuing it only three days, he had continued it for six 

 weeks, night and day, at regular intervals, so that no change could take 

 place without his notice, and the result was most satisfactory, con- 

 firming his conjectures respecting the class in the animal kingdom to 

 which the objects should be referred. " Six weeks, night and day V^ 

 Our amateurs had not dreamed of such persistent labor. Nor did they 

 dream of it in the future, but commenced to practice it in the present, 

 and, under the influence of Agassiz, were transformed from mere ama- 

 teurs to working zoologists. 



Indeed, such was the efiectof the sympathy and enthusiasm which he 

 exerted that, thenceforward and to-day, you will find merchant-j)rinces 

 and bankers of Boston hastening, after business-hours, not to club-rooms, 

 but to their homes, to seat themselves at the eye-glass of their expensive 

 microscopes to continue their observations of the habits and transfor- 

 mations of the croAvded population of a drop of sea-water or a spray 

 of alga. The spirit of Agassiz took possession of their souls. 



But I am running before my story. The brightness of its termination 

 has attracted me from the less brilliancy of its commencement. But to 

 trace with any minuteness the labors of Agassiz for the last twenty-six 

 years ot his life in this discourse would be impossible. It would be almost 

 like writing the history of some branches of science. 



His first course of lectures was fully reported in one of the Boston 

 papers, together with the illustrations which he gave on the blackboai'd. 

 He w^as at once called ui)on to lecture in the great cities of the country, 

 and overwhelmed with invitations to meet with scientific societies and 

 social assemblies. The latter he almost invariably declined; the former 

 he as uniformly accepted. 



His commission from the King of Prussia introduced him to our Gov- 

 ernment, and he was invited as a guest on board the vessels of the Coast 

 Survey, and dredged the ocean along our coast, gathering new and 

 abundant specimens for future examination. 



The next j^ear, 1847, the Lawrence Scientific School was founded at 

 Cambridge in connection with Harvard University, and Agassiz was 



