The Boy Agassiz. 



5 



branch of learning, while as for general information 

 few of his companions were his equals. Even at 

 this early age his genius asserted itself in many 

 ways. His young companions recognised the fact 

 that he was different from them, and were in the 

 habit of appealing to him in their games as possibly 

 better able to decide the numerous questions of 

 childhood. In his habits of observation, whether 

 with the collection of fishes in the little aquarium, 

 the insects found down in the vineyard, or the wild 

 flowers on the hillside, he was laying up a store of 

 truths that served him well in later years, and he is 

 said to have referred to the fact that the thought- 

 fulness with which he made his observations and 

 the tireless labour which he expended upon his work 

 were due to the habits formed in the first decade of 

 his childhood. 



These traits were not unnoticed by his elders, and 

 many were the early prophesies regarding the boy, 

 though probably few realised how completely he 

 would fulfil their prophetic sayings. The child's un- 

 usual brightness was one reason for his not being 

 sent to school earlier. Having lost two of her boys, 

 his mother was very solicitous for those remaining, 

 and watched their growth with increasing care and 

 tenderness. Home teaching and abundant exercise 

 in the open air was the training the young naturalist 

 received to prepare him for his actual schooldays. 

 From this time until within a few years of the end- 

 ing of a great and expansive life, Agassiz was, to a 

 greater extent than is generally known, influenced by 

 his mother. She was always his close guide and ad- 



