His " Contributions to the Natural History of the United 

 States," in four large volumes, are a monument of his in- 

 dustry, his accuracy of observation, and vast range of 

 scientific knowledge, in which the young men of this and 

 after time may see written admonition and encourage- 

 ment to high endeavor and lofty purpose. They " are 

 foot-prints in the sands of time "' which the tide" of centu- 

 ries in their ebb and flow may not erase, but the impres- 

 sion deeper make, reminding the struggling and aspiring 

 however hard the road and long the way, we can " make 

 our lives sublime. - ' 



The limits of a lecture would scarcely suffice for a 

 brief mention of the writings of Agassiz. Several works 

 written in Europe on the glacial theory and that on fos- 

 sil fishes, which Humboldt calls a masterly work, have 

 never yet been translated. His monographs, lectures, ad- 

 dresses, magazine articles, are very numerous, and yet he 

 found time for his larger works, for scientific pxcursions, 

 for lectures, teaching, laboratory work and long micros- 

 copic investigations. His mental activity unquestionably 

 hastened his death, otherwise he might have lived as long 

 as Humboldt, and at ninety continued to turn the leaves 

 of the great open book of nature. Yet, like Goethe, he 

 thought. " a useless life an early death," and compared 

 with common men he lived for centuries. In a letter to 

 Prof. Silliman, before he came to this country, he said 

 " My sphere is entirely circumscribed by the scientific 

 world, and all my ambition is limited to being useful to 

 the branch of science which I particularly cultivate." The 

 key to his after life is in this sentence. He was no book- 

 worm, no closet student, no recluse scholar, no aristocrat 

 in science, delving and digging for the selfish love of that 

 occupation. Nor was he a one-idead enthusiast chasing a 

 pet theory into a hole and there nursing it lest others 

 should claim it. Usefulness to science and thus to all 

 mankind expressed his full ambition and ennobled his 

 whole life. He aptly expressed in one of his books his 

 idea of the sphere of purely scientific men and the duty 

 of the public towards them in these words : " Let me say 



