PREFACE 



IF it be asked why a teacher of English 

 should be moved to issue this book on 

 Agassiz, my reply might be: 'Read the 

 Introductory Note' — for the answer is there. 

 But doubtless the primary reason is that I have 

 been taught, and I try to teach others, after a 

 method in essence identical with that employed 

 by the great naturalist. And I might go on 

 to show in some detail that a doctoral investi- 

 gation in the humanities, when the subject is 

 well chosen, serves the same purpose in the 

 education of a student of language and litera- 

 ture as the independent, intensive study of a 

 living or a fossil animal, when prescribed by 

 Agassiz to a beginner in natural science. But 

 there is no need to elaborate the point. Of 

 those who are likely to examine the book, 

 some already know the underlying truth in- 

 volved, others will grasp it when it is first 

 presented to them (and for these my slight and 

 pleasant labors are designed), and the rest will 



