Our great Teacher (and he loved to be known by this name) 

 has gone from us ; but he has left an imperishable legacy of his 

 spirit to encourage us to go forward in the paths of study which 

 he so ardently pursued. Agassiz came to us and lifted the natural 

 sciences out of the obscurity in which our earlier naturalists left 

 them. We owe to his courageous intelligence the best and high- 

 est thoughts, if not the most subtle generalizations, which have 

 been evolved from a study of the animal kingdom. 



His museum, upon which he spent the best energies of his in- 

 cessantly active mind, is the most thorough exponent of animated 

 nature that has yet been produced for the instruction of hu- 

 manity. 



ADDRESS OF PROFESSOR BURT G. WILDER. 



Mr. President : 



Those whom it has been our privilege to hear this afternoon 

 have shown you Louis Agassiz as a collaborator, as an investiga- 

 tor, and as a teacher. Permit me to corroborate what they have 

 said, and to speak of him more as a man and a patriot, as a coun- 

 sellor and friend. 



Born a Swiss, and already in the prime of life when he reached 

 this country in 1840, Agassiz became an enthusiastic American. 

 Not only did he refuse tempting offers from the Old World, but 

 he became a legal citizen of the United States at a time when some 

 already such were fleeing from new and heavy responsibilities. In 

 the dark days of 1861-62, Agassiz took out his naturalization 

 papers, and bade God-speed to those of his students who entered the 

 union army. 



With a breadth of view which enabled him to plan what it will 

 require years to execute, Agassiz had a remarkable facility in at- 

 tending to details. In 1868, (while in Washington, co-operating 

 with Professor Baird in persuading Congress to permit the with- 

 drawal of alcohol from bond for scientific purposes without pay- 

 ment of tax), he wrote a letter respecting the work to be done at 

 the museum during his unexpectedly prolonged absence. Ten 

 persons were mentioned and for each was laid out work in con- 

 tinuity with what had been -done already. After careful specifica- 



