Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 30.djvu/861

Rh in early childhood enjoyed the friendship of Goethe. Her father was a man of learning, with a strong propensity to science. "When the young man was about to return to his home, the father, who was setting out in the same direction, invited him to share his carriage. The marriage was agreed upon during this journey. Lesquereux brought his bride to Fleurier, where, in sight of the lofty Alpine peaks, he became engaged in the study of mosses, and later of fossil botany. It was at this period that he became interested in peat, its formation and possible reproduction. The protection of the peat-bogs, the principal fuel of Switzerland, was then a matter of great importance to the Government of Neufchâtel. Lesquereux published some memoirs of his investigations, which attracted the attention of Agassiz, then occupying the chair of Natural History in the Academy of Neufchâtel. He invited the author to visit him for a consultation upon the theories he had set forth. Shortly after this visit—which started a friendship that ceased only with Agassiz's death—the Government of Neufchâtel offered a gold medal for the best popular treatise on the formation and reproduction of peat.

A committee of eight savants was appointed to explore the peat deposits of the state, in order to be fully informed of the value of Lesquereux's researches. Professor Agassiz, who was a member of the committee, at first did not agree with his theory, but after the committee had been out a few days—they were two weeks on the field—he accepted it, and became its ardent supporter. "During these days, passed in constant intercourse with the great Agassiz," said Lesquereux, "I became sincerely attached to him; not only on account of his great mind and disposition to consider any subject fully, but because of his goodness of heart, the charm of his conversation, his childlike simplicity, and clearness of thought and expression, even in discussing the most abstruse subjects of science." Lesquereux's memoir was awarded the prize, and gained wide reputation; and it is still quoted as one of the best authorities on the subject. The author, under the patronage of the King of Prussia, subsequently explored the peat-bogs of Northern Europe. In this manner he became master of the botany, physics, chemistry, and geology of those districts, and was led to think that the theory he had formulated might be applied to the coal-seams of our country. To the New World his labors were now transferred, in 1848, when, having become totally deaf in the prime of life, he also found himself deprived of scientific employment at home by the political changes that followed the revolution. It was at this crisis that he came to Boston, where, at the earnest solicitation of that naturalist, he became a member of the household of Agassiz. Here he worked upon the botanical part of Agassiz's "Journey to Lake Superior," until the eve of Christmas, 1848, when, at the invitation of the eminent bryologist, W. S. Sullivant, he went to Columbus, Ohio, and, entering his laboratory, continued there the study of mosses. At