yet see no sublimity in the firmament with its " patines 

 of bright gold." Such are not expected to appreciate the 

 exacting labors, the enthusiasm, nor the sense of beauty 

 of the philosopher who sees in a minute spherule the or- 

 derly march of the starry hosts, who hears in its tiny 

 cell a music akin to that. of the spheres, and who bows 

 earnestly before the sublime mystery of creation, whether 

 dimly hinted in a microscopic vesicle or grandly displayed 

 in heaven's "majestical roof, fretted with golden fire." 

 A philosopher of our day affirms that " the reputa- 

 tions of the nineteenth century will one day be quoted to 

 prove its barbarism." If so, that of Agassiz will not be 

 omitted. When he came among us twenty-seven years 

 ago the American- Journal of Science says "this country 

 was without a museum of Natural History, a Zoological 

 laboratory, or a well organized scientific school, and of 

 course without the interest necessary to establish them, 

 and hence, as the next century, may say, was barbarous. 

 The tireless industry of Agassiz was not confined to Em- 

 bryology, " The huge Ammonites and first bones of time" 

 equally elicited his enthusiasm and his genius. His ac- 

 tivity was wonderful. After scouring Europe for proofs of 

 the glacial theory which he developed, and which required 

 research and observation totally different from, and un- 

 like, that just referred to, he sailed for America. He said 

 somewhat naively. "In 1846 I came to this continent, 

 and the first walk I took in Nova Scotia, a few hours af- 

 ter the arrival of the steamer on which I was a passenger, 

 at Halifax. I saw the well known tracks of glacier marks 

 all over the hills." His recreation was research. That 

 first walk over the hills of Nova Scotia was the com- 

 mencement of tours which encompassed the continent. 

 Along the coast of North America, in the Lake Superior 

 region, up the Amazon, around the Cape, along the South 

 Pacific coast, into the Golden Horn, and across the conti- 

 nent that never resting, indefatigable, ever buoyant, and 

 always genial student of nature went, ever 



Hammering and clinking, chattering stony names 

 Of shale, and hornblend, rag, and trap and tuff 

 Amygdaloid and trachyte. 



