240 



Louis Agassiz. 



honour of Professor Agassiz, because I owe personally 

 so deep a debt of gratitude to him as my teacher. 

 For some fifteen months in the years 1850-51, as his 

 private pupil, I spent the whole working hours of 

 nearly every day by his side, either in the laboratory 

 or else in excursions along the shores of Massachu- 

 setts, or over the mountains of New York, or on the 

 reefs and keys of Florida. The result of this long 

 intimate association was, on my part, a great and 

 ever-increasing love, admiration, and reverence for 

 him, both as a scientist and as a man, and on his part, 

 I am sure, a very strong and affectionate regard. It 

 would be very pleasant to me to linger here a 

 moment — to speak of him as a man and a teacher ; 

 the contagiousness of his enthusiasm, the abundance 

 and suggestiveness of his thoughts, the greatness of 

 his intellect, far greater even than his work, and, 

 therefore, contrary to what we find in little great 

 men, the increase of his intellectual stature as you 

 approached him nearer and nearer. It would be 

 pleasing to me to linger here, but I have a higher 

 duty to perform, and one which I am sure would be 

 more pleasing to him. In speaking of a man of 

 science, before a scientific body, it seems to me 

 peculiarly appropriate that I should try to show 

 the true grounds of his great reputation^ and the 

 reasons for believing that it will be permanent. 



In the noble army of science — that army so com- 

 pactly organised for the conquest of darkness and 

 the extension of the empire of light — there are many 

 valiant fighters, but there can be but few leaders. 

 In the construction of the great temple of science — 



