264 Louis Agassiz. 



come in many a heart at the mention of the name 

 of the departed. Agassiz is dead. The mighty brain 

 in which grand thoughts were kindled, is, as far as 

 our earth is concerned, at rest for ever ; the smile 

 which ever shone on modest merit beams for us no 

 more ; the kind and gentle voice which spoke in 

 earnest sympathy with even the meanest endeavour, 

 is hushed and still, and memory is all that is left us 

 of one so loved. To speak in praise of his vast 

 acquirements would be but 



" To guard a title that was rich before.*' 



The history of his adopted country will inscribe 

 them on its brightest pages, and his works will be 

 forever cherished amid the records of the nation. 

 But apart from the homage which the worshippers 

 of his genius will surely lay before its shrine — apart 

 from the consideration of the labours which have ren- 

 dered him immortal, and enrolled his name among 

 the deathless few — ^there steals into the thought the 

 recollection of that tender and gentle nature which 

 was so magnetic in its association, and which shed 

 so pleasing an influence upon all which came within 

 its contact. Involved in his own cherished pursuits, 

 he scorned the mean pretences of the world, and 

 being, as he himself declared, Too busy to make 

 money,'' he was utterly free from the taint of selfish- 

 ness, and lived less for his own advancement than 

 for the good of others, preferring the calm enjoy- 

 ment of a studious and retiring life to the tinsel 

 glories of wealth and display. Mindful of the diffi- 

 culties which beset the student of Science, and well 



