Louis Agassiz: His Life and Correspondence | Page 3

to Mr. Ticknor concerning Geographical Distribution of Fishes in Spain.

CHAPTER 20.
1863-1864: AGE 56-57.
Correspondence with Dr. S.G. Howe.--Bearing of the War on the Position of the Negro Race.--Affection for Harvard College. --Interest in her General Progress.--Correspondence with Emerson concerning Harvard.--Glacial Phenomena in Maine.

CHAPTER 21.
1865-1868: AGE 58-61.
Letter to his Mother announcing Journey to Brazil.--Sketch of Journey.--Kindness of the Emperor.--Liberality of the Brazilian Government.--Correspondence with Charles Sumner.--Letter to his Mother at Close of Brazil Journey.--Letter from Martius concerning Journey in Brazil.--Return to Cambridge.--Lectures in Boston and New York.--Summer at Nahant.--Letter to Professor Peirce on the Survey of Boston Harbor.--Death of his Mother.--Illness. --Correspondence with Oswald Heer.--Summer Journey in the West. --Cornell University.--Letter from Longfellow.

CHAPTER 22.
1868-1871: AGE 61-64.
New Subscription to Museum.--Additional Buildings.--Arrangement of New Collections.--Dredging Expedition on Board the Bibb.--Address at the Humboldt Centennial.--Attack on the Brain.--Suspension of Work.--Working Force at the Museum.--New Accessions.--Letter from Professor Sedgwick.--Letter from Professor Deshayes.--Restored Health.--Hassler Voyage proposed.--Acceptance.--Scientific Preparation for the Voyage.

CHAPTER 23.
1871-1872: AGE 64-65.
Sailing of the Hassler.--Sargassum Fields.--Dredging at Barbados. --From the West Indies to Rio de Janeiro.--Monte Video. --Quarantine.--Glacial Traces in the Bay of Monte Video.--The Gulf of Mathias.--Dredging off Gulf of St. George.--Dredging off Cape Virgens.--Possession Bay.--Salt Pool.--Moraine.--Sandy Point. --Cruise through the Straits.--Scenery.--Wind Storm.--Borja Bay. --Glacier Bay.--Visit to the Glacier.--Chorocua Bay.

CHAPTER 24.
1872: AGE 65.
Picnic in Sholl Bay.--Fuegians.--Smythe's Channel.--Comparison of Glacial Features with those of the Strait of Magellan.--Ancud. --Port of San Pedro.--Bay of Concepcion.--Three Weeks in Talcahuana.--Collections.--Geology.--Land Journey to Santiago. --Scenes along the Road.--Report on Glacial Features to Mr. Peirce. --Arrival at Santiago.--Election as Foreign Associate of the Institute of France.--Valparaiso.--The Galapagos.--Geological and Zoological Features.--Arrival at San Francisco.

CHAPTER 25.
1872-1873: AGE 65-66.
Return to Cambridge.--Summer School proposed.--Interest of Agassiz. --Gift of Mr. Anderson.--Prospectus of Penikese School. --Difficulties.--Opening of School.--Summer Work.--Close of School. --Last Course of Lectures at Museum.--Lecture before Board of Agriculture.--Illness.--Death.--Place of Burial.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
1. PORTRAIT OF LOUIS AGASSIZ AT THE AGE OF NINETEEN; copied by Mrs. John W. Elliot from a pastel drawing by Cecile Braun.
2. THE STONE BASIN AT MOTIER; drawn by Mrs. Elliot from a photograph.
3. THE LABORATORY AT NAHANT; from a drawing by Mrs. Elliot.
4. THE BIRTHPLACE OF LOUIS AGASSIZ; from a photograph.
5. HOTEL DES NEUCHATELOIS; copied by Mrs. Elliot from an oil sketch made on the spot by J. Burkhardt.
6. PORTRAIT OF JACOB LEUTHOLD; from a portrait by Burkhardt.
7. SECOND STATION ON THE AAR GLACIER; Copied by Mrs. Elliot from a sketch in oil by J. Burkhardt.
8. PORTRAIT OF LOUIS AGASSIZ AT THE AGE OF FIFTY-FIVE; originally published in "Nature".
9. COTTAGE AT NAHANT; from a photograph.
10. MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY; from a photograph.
11. PORTRAIT BUST OF AGASSIZ BY POWERS AT THE MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY; from a photograph.
12. VIEW OF PENIKESE; from a photograph.
***
LOUIS AGASSIZ.
PART 1. IN EUROPE.

CHAPTER 1.
1807-1827: TO AGE 20.
Birthplace. Influence of his Mother. Early Love of Natural History. Boyish Occupations. Domestic Education. First School. Vacations. Commercial Life renounced. College of Lausanne. Choice of Profession. Medical School of Zurich. Life and Studies there. University of Heidelberg. Studies interrupted by Illness. Return to Switzerland. Occupations during Convalescence.
JEAN LOUIS RODOLPHE AGASSIZ was born May 28, 1807, at the village of Motier, on the Lake of Morat. His father, Louis Rodolphe Agassiz, was a clergyman; his mother, Rose Mayor, was the daughter of a physician whose home was at Cudrefin, on the shore of the Lake of Neuchatel.
The parsonages in Switzerland are frequently pretty and picturesque. That of Motier, looking upon the lake and sheltered by a hill which commands a view over the whole chain of the Bernese Alps, was especially so. It possessed a vineyard large enough to add something in good years to the small salary of the pastor; an orchard containing, among other trees, an apricot famed the country around for the unblemished beauty of its abundant fruit; a good vegetable garden, and a delicious spring of water flowing always fresh and pure into a great stone basin behind the house. That stone basin was Agassiz's first aquarium; there he had his first collection of fishes.* (* After his death a touching tribute was paid to his memory by the inhabitants of his birthplace. With appropriate ceremonies, a marble slab was placed above the door of the parsonage of Motier, with this inscription, "J. Louis Agassiz, celebre naturaliste, est ne dans cette maison, le 28 Mai, 1807.")
It does not appear that he had any precocious predilection for study, and his parents, who for the first ten years of his life were his only teachers, were too wise to stimulate his mind beyond the ordinary attainments of his age. having lost her first four children in infancy, his mother watched with trembling solicitude over his early years. It was perhaps for this reason that she was drawn so closely to her boy, and understood that his love of nature, and especially of all living things, was an intellectual tendency, and