22 



Louis Agassiz, 



The friendship of the young men grew apace and 

 was of an ideal character. Agassiz had parted with his 

 brother, who had entered commercial life, and all his 

 affection was poured out at the new shrine. Braun 

 was as studious and earnest in the pursuit of knowl- 

 edge as Agassiz, and the companionship benefited 

 both. To show how they utilized time, they agreed 

 that when one was engaged in mounting a bird, 

 pinning an insect, or pressing a plant the other 

 should read aloud ; in this way they jointly read a 

 number of important books in various departments 

 of science. Young Braun had a friend, one Karl 

 Schimper, also a botanist, who was equally captivated 

 by the frank and ingenuous manner of Agassiz, and 

 a strong friendship was soon formed between them. 



The university life of Agassiz at Heidelberg was 

 interrupted by his illness in 1827, and after many 

 days of great danger Braun took him to his own 

 home at Carlsruhe, and later saw him safely to Orbe, 

 where in his invigorating native air he soon recovered. 



To stimulate interest and communicate to each 

 other the facts they drew from their several fields of 

 study, the young men during Agassiz's convalescence 

 were in the habit of asking each other questions by 

 mail. Thus Braun propounded puzzling questions 

 to Agassiz in botany, while Agassiz in return gave 

 him problems in zoology to solve. 



All during the year 1827 Agassiz was pushing his 

 investigations in every possible direction. He made 

 some elaborate studies with frogs and toads, his 

 sister making the drawings. His interest in insects 

 was accelerated by an acquaintance with the pastor 



