IV 



HOW AGASSIZ TAUGHT PROFESSOR 

 SHALER 1 



AT the time of my secession from the 

 humanities, Agassiz was in Europe; he 

 did not return, I think, until the autumn 

 of 1859. I had, however, picked up several 

 acquaintances among his pupils, learned what 

 they were about, and gained some notion of 

 his methods. After about a month he returned, 

 and I had my first contact with the man who 

 was to have the most influence on my life of 

 any of the teachers to whom I am indebted. 

 I shall never forget even the lesser incidents 

 of this meeting, for this great master by his 

 presence gave an importance to his surround- 

 ings, so that the room where you met him, and 

 the furniture, stayed with the memory of him. 

 ■ When I first met Louis Agassiz, he was still 

 in the prime of his admirable manhood; though 



1 From The Autobiography of Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, 

 pp. 93-100. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1907. 

 [14] 



