AGASSIZ AT PENIKESE. 145 
science was his influence on other men. Hewasa 
constant stimulus and inspiration. 
In an old note-book of those days I find frag- 
ments of some of his talks to teachers at Penikese., 
From this note-book I take some paragraphs, just 
as I find them written there: — : 
“Never try to teach what you do not yourself 
know and know well. If your school board insist 
on your teaching anything and everything, decline 
firmly to do it. It is an imposition alike on pupils 
and teacher to teach that which he does not know, 
Those teachers who are strong enough should 
squarely refuse to do such work. This much- 
needed reform is already beginning in our colleges, 
and I hope it will continue. It is a relic of medi- 
zeval times, this idea of professing everything. 
When teachers decline work which they cannot do 
well, improvements begin to come in. If one would 
be a successful teacher, he must firmly refuse work 
which he cannot do well. It is a false idea to sup- 
pose that everybody is competent to learn or to 
teach everything. Would our great artists have 
succeeded equally well in Greek or calculus? A 
smattering of everything is worth little. It is a 
fallacy to suppose that an encyclopedic knowledge 
is desirable. The mind is made strong, not through 
much learning, but by the thorough possession of 
something.” =, 
“ Lay aside all conceit. Learn to read the book 
of Nature for yourself. Those who have succeeded 
best have followed for years some slim thread 
which once in a while has broadened out and dis- 
closed some treasure worth a life-long search.” 
10 
