Religious Belief. i8i 



type ; that all animals have developed from pre- 

 vious forms, the species and genera being produced 

 by environment in vast eras of time. In a letter 

 to Sir Philip de Grey Egerton, Agassiz wrote : 

 " My recent studies have made me more adverse 

 than ever to the new scientific doctrines which 

 are flourishing now in England. This sensational 

 zeal reminds me of what I experienced as a 

 young man in Germany, when the physio-phi- 

 losophy of Oken had invaded every centre of sci- 

 entific activity ; and yet, what is there left of it ? I 

 trust to outlive this mania also. As usual, I do not 

 ask beforehand, what you think of it, and I may 

 have put my hand into a hornet's nest ; but you 

 know your old friend Agass., and will forgive him if 

 he hits a tender spot." 



Agassiz's last literary work was upon an article for 

 the Atlantic Monthly^ on the Evolution and Perma- 

 nence of Type." ^' A physical fact is as sacred as a 

 moral principle. Our own nature demands from us 

 this double allegiance," was his text, his creed, and 

 in the above-mentioned paper, in defining his plan 

 for future articles, he said : I hope in future articles 

 to show, first, that, however broken the geological 

 record may be, there is a complete sequence in many 

 parts of it, from which the character of the succes- 

 sion may be ascertained ; secondly, that, since the 

 most exquisitely delicate structures, as well as em- 

 bryonic phases of growth of the most perishable 

 nature, have been preserved from very early de- 

 posits, we have no right to infer the disappearance 

 of types because their absence disproves some favour- 



