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Louis Agassiz. 



his hearers were delighted, and he scored an imme- 

 diate success. Many distinguished scientists had 

 addressed the same listeners, yet none had so capti- 

 vated and appealed to them, or so aroused their 

 enthusiasm. The lecturer spoke in broken English 

 and often paused to select a word in his limited 

 vocabulary, but in no instance did the audience lose 

 patience. His forcible manner of expression, his 

 marvellous skill in illustrating, by which he showed 

 the growth and development of forms, delighted his 

 auditors and he held their attention until the last. 



At this period Agassiz was thirty-nine years of 

 age, in his prime, and enthusiastic on almost every 

 subject where the possible extension of knowledge 

 might lie. He found a new field in America and 

 immediately took his place as the first and greatest 

 of science teachers. Between his lectures he travelled 

 and familiarised himself with the people, their man- 

 ners and customs, and despite what were to him 

 incongruities he was impressed with the feeling that 

 here in this free land there was even a greater field, 

 a broader mission, than he could find in Europe, and 

 there is little doubt that he early conceived the 

 hope that he might remain in America permanently. 

 He was impressed with the fact that here he was 

 brought closer to the people. 



In a letter to a friend he wrote to the effect that 

 one of the strangest sights he ever witnessed was 

 a meeting of three thousand workmen who had 

 gathered together to found a library. He remarked 

 their neat appearance, the absence of any evidence 

 of poverty, and insensibly contrasted the labouring 



