The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1874-01-30

on our STATUS DOCKS, that we need
at the State capital the present
winter, = committee of discreet
meD, aided by asgood lawyer, ts
watch our interests, aud to counsel
aud encourage oar friends in the
legislature. To see to It that laws
made or amended to sooth and
please as are not SO full of loop
holes as to- leak ont all the Justice.
Other iuterestsr maintain theirllaw-
4 yers and Hobbies TO counsel and aid
/ their ffiends. The utmost diligence
is exercised by all parties except
farmers, to see that their ends are
accomplished. and untimely, il is
1 found that s'the laws always favor
the idilfgent."s ,f7folsGls bs -FsR e.
| 81 ,,5oJs .4GAsSEz.
Death has seldom stricken a
more shining mark than when
Agassiz fell by his hand. There
are names that for the time are
notoriouss land careers that are
brilliant,forl the day. but which
soon pass away and are forgotten.
There are others which are only
in part appreciated in their own
times, but to whom each new year
brings an added luster. The re-
lative altitude of some great
mountain peak is not seen while
the observer remains near its base
and among its minor foothills;
bat as the traveller retires into the
distance il lifts itself above its
surroundings, and seems higher
as it becomes more remote. So,
no doubt, the name of Agassiz will
be recognized with a higher APP
probation after than before his
decease. He had the sagacity to
attempt eminence in only single
department ofalearning, and be-
cause he was content to be only q
naturalist he was able to place
himself at the head of his class.
And yet he did not sink the man,
the citizen, and the christian in
his professional life and character.
His adopted country received him
as her own, and extended to him
the warmest welcome at his com
ing, and the most generous sup
port and appreciation during the
whole of his. somewhat extended
and highly fruitful public career;
and, now that he has finished his
course, she honors his memory
with a sincere sorrow. -.
Louis John Rudolph Agassiz
was O native of the canton OF Fri
bourg, Switzerland; born May %,
1870. He was descended from a
Huguenot family who were driven
from France at the revocation of
the edict of Nantes, and took re-
fnge in the Canton de Vaud,
aRd for seven generations his an
cestors were clergymen. Till his
eleventh year he remained at
home, under the special instruc-
ton of his mother, and then he
was sent to gymnasium of Bienne,
a small town in the Canton of
Bern. Here he began to be inter
ested in the natural sciences, di-
recting his attention chiefly to Bot
any. After four years he entered
the college at Lausanne, where he
remained two years, and after that
he passed two years at the medi-
cal school at Zurich; he continued
his studies at the University of
Heidelberg, in whose learned as
.sociations he became deeply inter
ested, and by which he was great
lly advanced in his chosen stu
dies 9' sss srIE- Sea5
While he was there an expedl
ton of naturalists having returned
from Brazil, the preparation OF
their reports was given in part to
young Agassiz, who had already
published some special papers on
scientific subjects. These studies
and occupations somewhat divert,
ed him from his medical studies,
to the partial displeasure of his
parents. He soon afterward pre-
pared and published a Natural
History of the Freshwater Fishes
of Europe" which brought him
both money and reputation. Pur-
suing at Vienna his studies in the
department of fishes, his attention
was drawn. to the fossil species
found in the Swiss and Austrian
rivers. This speciality occupied
most of his time and attention fol
the next ten years, or till the yea
1914. After this he visited some
of the chief museums of Europe
!, AID became personally acquainted
then or previously, with the chic
}, living scientists of the day, inelud
J ing both Humboldt and Cuvier
Under the auspices OF the formel
OF these he was enabled to publish
his great work on fossil fishes
which proved scarcely less valu
! able in it's relations to scientific
/. methodology than to the specia
, department of natural history t.
! which it was devoted.
: In 1S49 Mr.. Agassiz was Undue
: ed to visit this country, partly t,
study its natural history and par;
~ to fulfill an engagement to lee
ture for the Lowell Institute, q
( Boston. The time allotted for th
a visit was eighteen months or tw
Il years, bat it proved to be as Ion
d as his natural life. His receptio
q as q lecturer was highly fatterin:
:. and the field for the study of n,
= ture opened to him VIZ
= quite beyond his former apprehel
O sion. He spent most of the fir
v, summer after his arrival (1847) c
q a Government vessel engaged
I the survey, of the coast of Ma
l tucket and Martha's Vineyard
e making, also, a hasty visit to \
l. agara Falls and the White Mou
=. ta'ns. To write the history
a Agassiz's career for the subs
ne quent quarter of q century, wou
It be to detail the progress of natu
g. al science, and especially to t
US various departments of zoolot
d. for the same period, during viii
~ it's progress was vastly great
Ia than in all former times. His p
~ erainence as = naturalist seems
he have been everywhere coneed'
IA and yet so modest and unassumi
was he in his intercourse "
ou, those that might seem to be
Ia rivals that he gained and retain
tor the goodwill Of all.
&c zAgassizis success, which
80 probably beens greater than {
81 of almost any other man in
is same line of studies, is the res
zen of a rare combination Of qualiti
the His perceptive powers we're "
We fderfal:y acute, so that the sthi
our In which others would find Nc
ed, ing worthy Of notice often bscs
co %0 him aIanuanf a~n0aifinnI