Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 1.djvu/103

AGASSIZ Agassiz was great as an investigator, as a director of research, and as the founder of a magnificent museum. He was pre-eminent as a teacher. But Wilder, a devoted pupil, states:

"While Agassiz's personal charm seldom failed to attract those with whom he came in contact and frequently caused them to sacrifice their own interests for his, he was not particularly happy in his relations with several of his assistants and co-workers in Europe and America. Marcou accuses him on the one hand of being too free and easy with his assistants and on the other hand of lack of a thoroughly business-like understanding with them. For years it was a habit of his to provide room and board for his assistants and then to give them spending money for other needs when he had it to give. After his second marriage, he as a rule made definite arrangements as to compensation. From his assistants, Agassiz demanded complete devotion to his interests. Thus, when the museum was being established, he demanded of his assistants, who were scantily paid and who were there chiefly because of a desire to learn something about natural history from Agassiz, that they devote at least seven hours a day strictly to museum work. He was not disposed to be particularly generous in granting credit to his collaborators. Most of his best assistants and co-workers sooner or later left him with some ill-feeling toward him. On the other hand, he could be generous, as Burt Wilder and other of his pupils testified.

Of Agassiz's scientific contributions while in this country, the most important are:

"Lake Superior; its Physical Character, Vegetation and Animals, compared with Those of Other and Similar Region," March, 1850. This volume contains a narative of the tour by J. Elliott Cabot and contributions by other scientific men as well as that of Agassiz. The execution of this work was greatly superior to that, of most works of a similar kind previously published in this country, and served greatly to elevate the standards of illustrated scientific publications.

"Contributions to the Natural History of the United States." First two volumes issued in 1857, the third in 1860 and the fourth in 1862. The prospectus for this work was issued in 1855. There were 2500 subscribers at twelve dollars a volume. There were to be ten volumes, but only four were issued. Agassiz intended the work to be written in a non-technical style and yet to be a scientific contribution. With the exception of the introductory essay on Classification, the articles contained in the four volumes are, however, highly technical in nature. The essay on Classification is valuable in that the subject is taken up from a view opposed to that of Darwin and the evolutionists. The technical papers are on the North American Testudinata, the Embryology of the Turtle, the Acalephs in general, Ctenophorae, the Discophora;, and the Hydroidæ. The four volumes owe much to the drawing and engraving of Sonrel, who wore out his eyes in the work, and of Burkhardt and Clark.

In addition to these works, Agassiz published a large number of articles of greater length, a list of which may In- found in his Life by Marcou. The topic treated of are scattered broadly in the fields of zoology and geology. Some papers arc lucre sketchy reviews, others are of great importance to science. Among the latter may be mentioned papers on corals and coral reefs, on the embryology of some of the invertebrates, and on the homologies of the radiates.

Of Agassiz's relations to medical education but little need be said.

In the summer of 1851 he became professor of anatomy at the Medical College at Charleston, South Carolina. He had been giving popular lectures on biology for the income which it, brought him. and was glad to substitute for these popular lectures in various parts of the country, a regular course of instructions for students. While lecturing at the Medical College he established a laboratory on Sullivan's Island and there devoted the