THE PHILOSOPHICAL VIEWS OF AGASSIZ. 
ALPHEUS S. PACKARD. 
THE school of biological thinkers and writers to which Louis 
Agassiz belonged was that of Cuvier and of Owen. He was, 
however, the pupil of Déllinger, who revolutionized the methods 
of teaching in zoology, and he warmly sympathized with and 
adopted the views and principles of Von Baer, the great em- 
bryologist. 
The half-century which has passed since Agassiz came to 
America has seen a profound and widespread modification of 
the methods of attacking biological problems. The facts may 
be of the same general nature, but their interpretation has 
radically changed; and it is fair to say that the labors of Agassiz 
in embryology and paleontology had some influence in leading 
to this change. 
The impression made by Agassiz on the writer's mind, when 
a student for three years in the great museum he founded, was 
one of admiration at his broad, comprehensive, and synthetic 
views, his facility in wide generalization, his knowledge of the 
work done by his contemporaries and predecessors in compara- 
tive anatomy, embryology, and systematic zoology, and his 
acquaintance with the literature of these subjects. We realized 
that he was constantly in touch with the leading investigators 
in Europe. We were sure we were enjoying the privilege of 
working under the direction of a ripe zoological scholar and of 
the best equipped teacher of his age. It did not seem necessary 
to go to Germany, for we were enjoying advantages equal to 
those of the best German laboratories. 
To-day we find more practical teachers than Agassiz, in that 
the student receives more of the teacher’s time, is carried on 
from one step to another, is taught the use of the microtome 
and of reagents, and in most cases —for there are brilliant 
exceptions — half or two-thirds of the results as embodied in 
the doctor’s thesis represent the work of the teacher who has 
