Louis A gas si 2. 



our own time, and in the near distance of the present, 

 is Agassiz, who, coming forward at a period when 

 science was so complex as to render universaHty 

 impossible, devoted himself to the investigation of 

 the living forms upon the surface of our globe, and to 

 finding the thread of order and law running through 

 all organised beings. His mind was at once incisive 

 and comprehensive, analytic and synthetic ; while 

 a fine glow of poetic insight and feeling suffused 

 his whole intellectual and moral frame. It was 

 this poetic nature, expressed in elevated, restrained 

 enthusiasm of purpose and idea, that enabled him 

 to give such an impulse to scientific studies in 

 America. He had the rare ability of pursuing 

 original research and of transforming it into popular 

 knowledge — a hazardous undertaking for some, in- 

 asmuch as the popularisation of science is accom- 

 plished through dense and refracting media, which 

 impair intellectual rectitude and degrade the scien- 

 tific standards of truth to practical and economical 

 relations. To extend the domain of science is one 

 thing, to diffuse science is another thing ; and the 

 two are rarely united. 



Agassiz claims my admiration for the firmness and 

 simplicity with which he maintained the right of 

 science to pursue its own investigations in its own 

 domain, without controversy, and without reference 

 to any prejudices or opinions that might be held in 

 any other department of knowledge or experience. 

 With the old conflict between science and religion 

 he had nothing to do. He had frankness and truth 

 enough to confess that there is as much dogmatism 



