PERSONALITY OF AGASSIZ 



quality of his work arose from his sense of 

 order, and from the soundness and rigor of his 

 principles. He possessed not only physical, 

 but intellectual and moral courage. In the 

 face of hardship or difficulty he was undaunted, 

 ever energetic at the moment, ever hoping for 

 better times. His power of working was 

 enormous, for he made virtually no false mo- 

 tions, but proceeded silently, swiftly, with 

 no apparent effort, and for long periods without 

 interruption. " 



Much has been said by his friends of the 

 depth and sincerity of his sentiments in point 

 of religion. But he had little sympathy with 

 clergymen, or with the definite forms in which 

 the religious experience of man has expressed 

 itself — though these forms are in their essence 

 and development not unlike the natural forms 

 which he so reverently studied, 'One who 

 knew him well affirms that in early manhood 

 Agassiz, if not precisely a materialist, was at 

 all events a sceptic; but his later studies, with 

 mature reflection, led him to believe in a Divine 

 Creator. The external universe became to 

 him the language in which the Divine Being 

 5 [59] 



