everything to his vision ; but there are subjects of micros- 

 copic research so obscure that the student must observe a 

 special diet before undertaking his investigation, in order 

 that not even the beating of his arteries may disturb the 

 steadiness of his gaze, and the condition of his nervous' 

 system be so calm that his whole figure will remain for 

 hours in rigid obedience to his fixed and concentrated 

 o*aze." 



No special diet has ever been discovered that will keep 

 steady the nerves of a scientist or theologian when the 

 doctrine of evolution is broached. Not 



Mandragora nor all the drowsy syrups in the world 



are able to repress the uproar that ensues in almost jiny 

 organization when this apple of discord is introduced. 

 Agassiz persistently and emphatically opposed Darwin- 

 ism, in his last published article reiterating with increased 

 fervor his arguments against it. In that he said " How 

 the world originated is the great question, and Darwin's 

 theory, like all other attempts to explain the origin of 

 life, is thus far merely conjectural. I believe he has 

 not even made the best conjecture possible in the present 

 state of our knowledge.' For his opinion on this vexed 

 question Agassiz incurred nearly all the censure to which 

 he was ever subjected, yet it must be remembered that 

 even Darwin spoke of him as his " most courteous and 

 most formidable opponent." Prof. Fiske, of Harvard, in a 

 late article on Agassiz and Darwinism, declares that Agas- 

 siz is no more competent to grapple with the theorems 

 of Darwin than a child is qualified for improving the 

 methods of the integral calculus." He thinks Agassiz 

 was "hopelessly behind the age " and never knew what 

 the Darwinian theory is. He attributes this to that " rig- 

 idity of mind which prevents the thorough revising of 

 our opinions and which is sure, sooner or later, to come 

 upon all of us. and which we ought to dread as we dread 

 the stagnation of old age or death."' He affirms that 

 Agassiz's mind acquired that rigidity before Darwinism 

 began to occupy the attention of earnest thinkers. But in 

 this very article its author says " on evolution my mind 



