AGASSIZ’S WORK ON FOSSIL FISHES. 
CHARLES R. EASTMAN. 
WHATEVER advances have been made in the science of 
paleichthyology since the time of Louis Agassiz, it is a signifi- 
cant fact that they have been rendered possible almost solely 
as the result of Agassiz’s own researches. The position that 
Agassiz holds in the history of the science is that of founder, 
of extraordinarily acute and painstaking observer, of careful and 
sagacious systematist. If he was the first to place the study 
of paleichthyology upon a truly scientific basis, so, too, his con- 
tributions to this subject greatly preponderate over those of 
any other author. And not only was the knowledge of fossil 
fishes vastly increased by means of his writings, but, both 
directly and indirectly, he stimulated other investigators to 
pursue kindred lines of research. 
It was especially fortunate that Agassiz should have been led 
to take up the study of fossil fishes when he did, for the reason 
that he possessed a more extensive knowledge of recent forms 
than probably any other savant in Europe with the exception of 
Cuvier, who unhappily did not live to see even the inception of 
the Poissons Fossiles; and also because there existed in the 
different museums at that time a large array of material, 
eminently suited for comparative investigation, and waiting 
only for a monographer. Without the wide experience in 
zoology and anatomy that Agassiz had already enjoyed, without 
his powers of penetration, of fine discrimination, and excellent 
judgment, it is safe to say that no one could have prepared a 
well-digested account of so much new material, nor have made 
clear the structure and relationships of -such fragmentary 
remains. Genius, without training, could not have accomplished 
the masterwork which Agassiz performed, but the value of a 
trained scientific imagination was most forcibly illustrated in 
his case, 
