looking, which forced them to such careful scrutiny of the object
before them, influenced all their subsequent habits of observation,
whatever field they might choose for their special subject of
study. One of them who was intending to be an entomologist
concludes a very clever and entertaining account of such a first
lesson, entirely devoted to a single fish, with these words: "This
was the best entomological lesson I ever had,--a lesson whose
influence has extended to the details of every subsequent study; a
legacy the professor has left to me, as he left it to many others,
of inestimable value, which we could not buy, with which we could
not part."* (* "In the Laboratory with Agassiz", by S.H. Scudder.)
But if Agassiz, in order to develop independence and accuracy of
observation, threw his students on their own resources at first,
there was never a more generous teacher in the end than he. All his
intellectual capital was thrown open to his pupils. His original
material, his unpublished investigations, his most precious
specimens, his drawings and illustrations were at their command.
This liberality led in itself to a serviceable training, for he
taught them to use with respect the valuable, often unique, objects
intrusted to their care. Out of the intellectual good-fellowship
which he established and encouraged in the laboratory grew the
warmest relations between his students and himself. Many of them
were deeply attached to him, and he was extremely dependent upon
their sympathy and affection. By some among them he will never be
forgotten. He is still their teacher and their friend, scarcely
more absent from their work now than when the glow of his
enthusiasm made itself felt in his personal presence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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