2 Louis Agassiz. 



distant the crests of mighty mountains pierced the 

 sky, gleaming with the snows of eternal winter, telling 

 of the avalanche, crevasse, and ancient rivers of ice. 



From such a land of varied attractions sprang the 

 ancestry of the greatest science teacher of modern 

 times. I am Swiss,"he once said, and have been 

 for generations," and it is believed that for three 

 hundred years at least the Agassiz family lived in 

 Switzerland, being originally Burgundian Huguenots, 

 who left France during the acts of injustice and 

 persecution which characterised the reign of Louis 

 XIV. 



Louis Rudolphe Agassiz, father of the naturalist, 

 was the sixth clergyman in direct line in his family ; 

 a man of strong personality and lovable character. 

 He married Rose Mayor, who lived in the little vil- 

 lage of Cudrefin, one of the most attractive places 

 on the borders of Lake Neuchatel. The Mayors 

 were a sturdy and intellectual race, many being 

 professional men of literary and scholastic tastes. 

 The father of Rose Mayor was a physician, while her 

 brother, Mathias Mayor, was a distinguished surgeon 

 and physician of Lausanne. 



The true genius is born, and Louis Agassiz was 

 no exception to the rule. From his very earliest 

 years he evinced a taste for nature and natural ob- 

 jects, — a love that was fostered and encouraged by a 

 devoted mother who, perhaps by intuition, recognised 

 the germ that was to develope and produce such 

 notable results in later years. For the first ten years 

 of his life Agassiz received all his instruction from 

 his parents. His active mind was not overcrowded, 



