HOW AGASSIZ TAUGHT 



course of a hundred hours or so thought I had 

 done much — a hundred times as much as seemed 

 possible at the start. I got interested in finding 

 out how the scales went in series, their shape, 

 the form and placement of the teeth, etc. 

 Finally, I felt full of the subject, and probably 

 expressed it in my bearing; as for words about 

 it then, there were none from my master except 

 his cheery 'Good morning.' At length, on 

 the seventh day, came the question, 'Well?' 

 and my disgorge of learning to him as he sat 

 on the edge of my table puffing his cigar. At 

 the end of the hour's telling, he swung off and 

 away, saying: 'That is not right.' Here I 

 began to think that, after all, perhaps the 

 rules for scanning Latin verse were not the 

 worst infliction in the world. Moreover, it was 

 clear that he was playing a game with me to 

 find if I were capable of doing hard, continuous 

 work without the support of a teacher, and 

 this stimulated me to labor. I went at the 

 task anew, discarded my first notes, and in 

 another week of ten hours a day labor I had 

 results which astonished myself and satisfied 

 him. Still there was no trace of praise in 



[23] 



