Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/60

AGASSIZ.AGASSIZ. themselves in his daily work. In addition to interesting himself in the scientific work involved in his position, Professor Agassiz was, in 1873, superintendent of the Anderson school of natural history on Penikese Island. He was a member of the scientific-expedition to South America in 1875, where he inspected the copper mines of Peru and Chili, and made extended surveys of Lake Titicaca, besides collecting invaluable Peruvian antiquities, which he gave to the Peabody museum. He assisted Sir Charles Wyville Thomson, the Scotch zoölogist, in arranging and classifying the product of the expedition of the Challenger in her voyage of 68,900 miles of deep-sea exploration in 1872-'76. Of the fruits of this remarkable voyage Agassiz brought to America a valuable collection, and wrote one of the final reports on the zoölogy of the expedition, that on Echini. The United States coast survey placed at his disposal the steamer Blake, on board of which he spent his winters from 1876 to 1881, principally in the West Indies in deep-sea dredging. Professor Agassiz served as an overseer of Harvard university, and was a fellow until 1885. His society membership embraced the American association for the advancement of science, the National academy of science and the American academy of arts and sciences, of which last he was president in 1898. He was made an officer of the Legion of Honor of France in 1896. In 1898 he gave to Harvard university his valuable West Indian, Central and South American zoölogical collections. On May 7, 1902, he was appointed the director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. With Mrs. Elizabeth C. Agassiz he wrote: "Seaside Studies in Natural History" (1865); "Marine Animals of Massachusetts Bay" (1871); and the fifth volume of "Contributions to the National History of the United States," left incomplete by his father. AGASSIZ, Jean Louis Rudolphe, naturalist, was born in the village of Motier-en-Vuly, in the Canton Fribourg, Switzerland, May 28, 1807, son of Louis Rudolphe and Rose (Mayor) Agassiz. His father was a Protestant clergyman, as had been his progenitors for six generations. His mother, the daughter of a physician, a woman of intellect and refinement, assisted her husband in the education of her boys. Louis early developed a passionate fondness for birds and animals of all sorts, and he observed their habits and characteristics with great accuracy and intelligence. In the parsonage garden stood a large stone basin full of spring water, and in this the embryo ichthyologist had quite a collection of fishes before he was five years of age. In 1817 he was sent to a gymnasium at Bienne, where he became proficient in ancient and modern languages. In 1822 he entered the college at Lausanne, where he had access to a fine biological collection owned by Professor Chavannes, the director of the cantonal museum. It had been intended by his parents that Louis should follow commercial pursuits, but his singular aptitude for scientific study led them to change their plans and allow him to fit himself for the study of medicine; he, therefore, in 1824 began his medical studies at Zurich, where he benefited greatly by the kindness of Professor Schinz, who held the chair of natural history and physiology, and who allowed the youthful scientist free access to his private library and to his valuable collection of birds. In 1826 he passed to the University of Heidelberg, where he made the acquaintance of Alexander Braun, like himself an enthusiastic naturalist. Their friendship was of mutual benefit. An interesting item in connection with his studies at Heidelberg is the fact that the magnificent collection of fossils owned by Professor Bronn, the palæontologist, and used by him in giving Agassiz his first important palæontological instruction, was bought in 1859 by the museum of comparative zoölogy in Cambridge, Mass., and was there used by Agassiz in instructing his American pupils. Agassiz in 1827 entered the university of Munich, and the lodging-rooms of himself and Braun, who was again his fellow-student, were the headquarters for the "Little Academy," an organization started by Agassiz, and over which he presided. There the most earnest and energetic young spirits of the university met to discuss scientific problems and to disclose to each other the results of their investigations in the various fields in which they were interested. Many of the professors attended these student lectures, and some of Professor Dollinger's most important physiological discoveries were there made known for the first time. In the summer of 1828, Von Martins proposed to Agassiz that he should write a description of a collection of some 116 specimens of fishes brought from Brazil by his lately deceased friend and colleague, J. B. De Spix. To this highly flattering proposition Agassiz assented with reluctance, fearing the work might too greatly interrupt his studies. He arranged and classified the collection in a most original manner, and the work, written in Latin and illustrated by twenty-nine handsome plates, made its appearance