his having lived in it ? By what process did he arrive 

 at the altitude from which he shed down his light upon 

 the undistinguished millions below ? Will that light con- 

 tinue to cheer humanity in the generations to come, or 

 did it dazzle but to disappoint, leaving the darkness dark- 

 er ? Was it an ignis fatuis, or a star, which will shine 

 through the ages ? 



In view of the great space Agassiz has held for forty 

 years in the scientific world, these questions suggest the 

 appropriateness of some consideration of his life and its 

 lessons. But a few weeks have passed since that busy life, 

 twenty-seven years of which were spent among us, came 

 suddenly to a close. His last public effort was an address 

 before the Massachusetts State Board of Ao-riculture on De- 

 cember 2d, where we are told he spoke with " ease and 

 unwonted energy/' 



Agassiz delivered his fifth lecture on the Amazon in 

 New York on the evening of the day on which that city 

 rendered the last honor to Prof. Bache. He opened his 

 lecture with an earnest tribute to that distinguished 

 man, which, without the change of a word, mav now 

 be applied to himself. Said he, " He was one of those 

 men whom all loved who knew him ; but while he was 

 dear to his friends, he was a man of whom his country 

 can well be proud. He has organized in these United 

 States a work which has made science, as represented and 

 carried on in America, respected wherever science is 

 cultivated." 



The private life and personal character, the e very-day 

 demeanor and home characteristics of Prof. Agassiz were 

 just such as we all love to find joined to high attain- 

 ments, great genius and world-wide fame. He was sim- 

 ple, earnest, enthusiastic, kind, genial, sympathetic, full 

 of magnetism and boyish fervor, too great to obtrude his 

 greatness, and too good to forget the common brotherhood 

 of men. The trite quotation has seldom been so well ap- 

 plied as to him : 



His life was simple, and the elements 



So mixed in him that Nature might stand up 



And sa3 r to all the world. This was a man. 



