The Agassi z Memorials. 241 



that eternal temple made without hands — the only 

 temple ever erected by man worthy to be dedicated 

 to the great Author of nature — there are many busy, 

 eager, joyous workmen, but there can be but few 

 master-builders. Now, I wish to show that in the 

 construction of the temple of science, Agassiz was 

 not only an indefatigable worker in all the lowest 

 details, with chisel and hammer and trowel, in brick 

 and stone and mortar, but also a great master- 

 mason ; that in the army of science he was not only 

 a valiant fighter in the very front rank, but also a 

 great leader. In a word, I wish to show that he 

 was not only an indefatigable, enthusiastic worker 

 in all the lowest details of his chosen science, ob- 

 serving, collecting, arranging, analysing, classifying, 

 but also a great philosophic thinker — that his life 

 and work form an epoch in science — that in look- 

 ing back over the track of time, his gigantic stature 

 will remain for many ages to come a conspicuous 

 landmark. 



As we look back over the history of science, we 

 see, at long intervals, certain men who seem to tower 

 far above their fellows. In what consists their great- 

 ness? They are men who have introduced great 

 ideas or new methods into science — ideas which extend 

 the domain of human thought, or methods which 

 increase our power over nature, facilitate the pro- 

 gress of discovery, and thus open the way to the 

 conquest of new fields. Such men were Copernicus, 

 and Galileo, and Kepler, and Newton, and Herschell, 

 in astronomy : such were Linnaeus, and Buffon, and 



Cuvier and Agassiz, in organic science. 

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