HOW AGASSIZ TAUGHT 



of the literature of ichthyology, becoming 

 especially interested in the system of classi- 

 fication, then most imperfect. I tried to follow 

 Agassiz's scheme of division into the order of 

 ctenoids and ganoids, with the result that I 

 found one of my species of side-swimmers had 

 cycloid scales on one side and ctenoid on the 

 other. This not only shocked my sense of the 

 value of classification in a way that permitted of 

 no full recovery of my original respect for the 

 process, but for a time shook my confidence in 

 my master's knowledge. At the same time I 

 had a malicious pleasure in exhibiting my 

 'find' to him, expecting to repay in part the 

 humiliation which he had evidently tried to 

 inflict on my conceit. To my question as to 

 how the nondescript should be classified he 

 said: 'My boy, there are now two of us who 

 know that.' ■ 



This incident of the fish made an end of my 

 novitiate. After that, with a suddenness of 

 transition which puzzled me, Agassiz became 

 very communicative; we passed indeed into 

 the relation of friends of like age and purpose, 

 and he actually consulted me. as to what I 



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