The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1879-11-05
Agassiz's sympathy with AMI.

Of animalss as'thes included all llkiuds
of men, and he was repaid in kind.
There is not, Isthink, d single inss
stance Of his having been injured by
any serpent orbeast, however poison
GUS and ferocious, though much cf
his life was passed ia the company
ofanimals Itis asserted that they
have no language, but he found no
difficulty in consersing with them,
and they seemed to understand him
very well, adapted as his modes Of
communicating with them were to
theird different natures. There prob
ably never was d naturalist Who COM
binfd speli 4 khpwledee @ tlsHlf
physical organization with such q
penetrating glance into what he call
ed their souls. He was, in the as.
thetics of zoology, the dramatist of
the animal kingdom, as Shakespeare
was the dramatist Of the human
race. Whether he had to do with u
jelly fish or whale or an elephant,
he knew each of them as Shakespeare
knew the varieties Of human kind,
from "the heart outward, and not
from the flesh inward" 1t was Gu
rious. TO notice his behavior in pres
ence Of domesticated animals. The
ugliest, flthiest, stupidest, most un-
reasonable, most obstinate creature
in the barn yard is the pig, set with
a stick in his hand, Agassiz would
go up to the most unsociable, "can.
tankerous," misanthropic grunter,
and after few soft words and
movement of the stick over the bris-
ties Of the creature in the right di-
rection, the pig would lift its head
ring Of q cat. The neigh Of u horse
erect, its small eyes would glisten
with vague intelligence, it would
remain almost motionless in kind
of pleased surprise, and emit sound
indicative Of as much content and
comfort as are indicated BY the pur-
to him was more friendly neigh
than any ever heard by u hostler or
a jockey. He carried serpents in his
hand and in his pocket with a grand
unconcern, and dropped them some
times even in his bedroom, so that
his wife was frequently troubled by
finding them coiled up in her boots.
WheneveEshe entered reepagerie..
he was eagerly welcomed by lions,
tigers, wolves, hyeuas and others
beasts of pray, which considered
their keepers as stupid louts; but rec
ognized in him the one person that
they could have a rational conversa.
tion with. Beauty" says the poet,
lis its own excuse for being" Agas-
siz went beyond this tolerant maxim
to the extent of affirming that De-
formity has its own excuse for being.
The fact thatany animal existed was
with him a justification of its exis. :
tence; and after conversing with it,
and penetrating TO its interior ma
ture, he treated it as Shakespeare
treated Dogberry, or Ancient Pistol,
or Mrs. Quickly, or any of the other
queer blood relations connected with
him through common descent from
Adam. AS there was no form Of hui
man existence which was too slow to
be beneaththe humane sympathies Of
Shakespeare, so there was no kind of
animal existence which was too low
to engage the sympathies of Agassiz.
And the most evil members of the
animal kingdom had no malignant
feeling toward him; indeed, they
cheerfully consented to let him kill
them, knowing that by such submits
sion to his will they were practically
elected as representatives Of their
species in the grand legislative as.
sembly of the Animal Kingdom
gathered in the great hall of the
Museum of Comparative Zoology, un-
derthe literal "Speakershippo Of Agas-
siz; that is, under the man who was
alone capable of being their inter-
prefer of their language, so that its
signs could be clearly understood by
the human race, from which they
were divided By peculiarities of Or
ganization and of soul. One can al
most conceive Of these martyrs Of the
animal kingdom as.rejoicing while
enduring the death which insured to