Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 01
General
Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 01
Literature -- Collections
Numerous biographies and monographs of Agassiz exist in many languages,
a complete list of which is given in the last published 'Life of
Agassiz,' by Jules Marcou (New York and London, 1896), and also in the
'Life of Agassiz,' by Charles F. Holder (New York, 1893). Complete
lists of Agassiz's works are also given in these biographies, and these
titles show how versatile was his taste and how deep and wide his
research. His principal contributions to science are in French and
Latin, but his most popular books appeared in English. These include
'The Structure of Animal Life,' 'Methods of Study,' 'Geological
Sketches,' and 'Journey in Brazil,' the latter written with Mrs.
Agassiz. His 'Contributions to the Natural History of the United
States,' planned to be in ten large books, only reached four volumes.
In his 'Researches concerning Fossil Fishes,' Agassiz expressed the
views that made him a lifelong opponent of the Darwinian theories,
although he was a warm friend of Darwin. Considering the demands upon
his time as teacher, lecturer, and investigator, the excellence not less
than the amount of the great naturalist's work is remarkable, and won
such admiration that he was made a member of nearly every scientific
society in the world. One of his favorite pastimes was deep-sea
dredging, which embraced the excitement of finding strange specimens and
studying their singular habits.
Of his love and gift for instructing, Mrs. Agassiz says in her 'Life'
(Boston, 1885):--
"Teaching was a passion with him, and his power over his
pupils might be measured by his own enthusiasm. He was,
intellectually as well as socially, a democrat in the best
sense. He delighted to scatter broadcast the highest results
of thought and research, and to adapt them even to the
youngest and most uninformed minds. In his later American
travels he would talk of glacial phenomena to the driver of a
country stage-coach among the mountains, or to some workman
splitting rock at the roadside, with as much earnestness as
if he had been discussing problems with a brother geologist;
he would take the common fisherman into his scientific
confidence, telling him the intimate secrets of fish-culture
or fish-embryology, till the man in his turn grew
enthusiastic and began to pour out information from the
stores of his own rough and untaught habits of observation.
Agassiz's general faith in the susceptibility of the popular
intelligence, however untaught, to the highest truths of
nature, was contagious, and he created or developed that in
which he believed."
The following citations exhibit his powers of observation, and that
happy method of stating scientific facts which interests the specialist
and general reader alike.
THE SILURIAN BEACH
From 'Geological Sketches'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account