Agassiz at Heidelberg. 19 



with remarkable prescience he took advantage of 

 every point that would aid in his laudable ambition. 

 The men who influenced his career were Leuckart, 

 Tiedemann, and Braun. 



Tiedemann placed his collections of books and 

 specimens at his disposal, while the famous zoologist 

 Leuckart encouraged him in every way, imparting 

 the enthusiasm that was so prominent a feature in his 

 own character. Leuckart was a daring spirit, and 

 his lectures encouraged the advanced students to 

 move on for themselves into the unknown, to theo- 

 rise and draw inferences from their own investigations. 

 He was one of the rare men of that or any day who 

 could make what are generally considered prosaic 

 studies interesting and even delightful to the masses, 

 — a faculty which Agassiz possessed later in life to 

 an eminent degree. 



With Leuckart Agassiz continued his studies in 

 animal life ; with Bischoff he rambled over the fields, 

 learning botanical wisdom from this eminent au- 

 thority. Sometimes they spent the day among the 

 flowers ; again it was with the microscope, studying 

 the pollen or smaller forms. From Braun he re- 

 ceived the first inspiration which made him the 

 palaeontologist he became ; and in this scientist's 

 collection of fossils he delved, storing up facts 

 which became of use later on. 



Agassiz was now not merely a scientist ; he did 

 not neglect other studies for rambles in the field. 

 Even as a boy he was an accomplished linguist, 

 speaking French and German so fluently that he 

 would think in one language and express himself in 



