Emerson. 218 [January 7, 



we Americans have to give so much time to acquire ; and he 

 lived, long, a studious and laborious life in Paris, where he 

 became intimately acquainted with Cuvier and other distin- 

 guished naturalists, and perfectly familiar with the French 

 language in its best form. More than once, when he was 

 putting his note-book into his pocket, he told me he knew 

 not whether he had made his 'notes in German or in French. 



Agassiz's universality of study and thought suggest a pre- 

 cious lesson. It is never safe to give one's self entirely to one 

 study or to one course of thought. The full powers of the 

 mind cannot so be developed. Nature is infinite ; and a small 

 part of one kingdom cannot be understood, however care- 

 fully studied, without some knowledge of the rest. 



Neither must a man allow himself to be a mere naturalist. 

 Every man ought to seek to form for himself, for his own hap- 

 piness and enjoyment, the highest character for intelligence, 

 and for just and generous feeling, of which he is capable. 

 He is not a mere student of a department of nature. He 

 is a man ; he must make himself a wise, generous and well- 

 informed man, able to sympathise with all that is most beau- 

 tiful in nature and art, and best in society. It would be a 

 poor, dull world, if all men of talent were to educate them- 

 selves to be mere artisans, mere politicians, or mere natu- 

 ralists. 



Agassiz took a large, comprehensive view of the whole 

 field of natural history ; his thorough education and intimate 

 acquaintance with the works of the highest men in several 

 walks, Von Martius, Cuvier, Humboldt, and others, made it 

 possible for him to do it, and he then fixed on certain depart- 

 ments, and, for the time, he gave himself entirely to one. 



