AGASSIZ AT PENIKESE. 147 
them in for themselves. Take your text from the 
brooks, not from the booksellers. It is better to 
have a few forms well known than to teach a little 
about'many hundred species. Better a dozen speci- 
mens thoroughly studied as the result of the first 
year’s work, than to have two thousand dollars’ 
worth of shells and corals bought from a curiosity- 
shop. The dozen animals would be your own.” 
“You! will find the same elements of instruction 
all about you wherever you may beteaching. You 
can take your classes out and give them the same 
lessons, and lead them up to the same subjects you 
are yourselves studying here. And this method 
of teaching children is so natural, so suggestive, so 
true. That is the charm of teaching from Nature 
herself. No one can warp her to suit his own 
views. She brings us back to absolute truth as 
often as we wander.” aes) 
“The study of Nature is an intercourse with the 
highest mind. You should never trifle with Nature. 
At the lowest her works are the works of the high- 
est powers, the highest something in whatever way 
we may look at it.” a2 
“A laboratory of natural history is a sanctuary 
where nothing profane should be tolerated. I feel 
less agony at improprieties in churches than ina 
scientific laboratory.” 
‘In Europe I have been accused of taking my 
scientific ideas from the Church. In America I 
have been called a herctic, because I will not let 
my church-going friends pat me on the head.” 
! In this paragraph, quoted by Mrs. Agassiz (Life and Letters 
of Agassiz, p. 775), I have adopted the wording as given by her. 
