The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1896-02-08
His Biographer Tries to Presen
the rlan as He Lived and
Thought.
The Genius of the Naturalist Was
Spontaneous, Frank and
Absolutely Sincere.
A French Swiss He Was Born and
and French Swiss He
Remained.

Those who love to read the lives OF
great men, and count myself one OF
them, have a rare treat in store in the
life, Letters and Works of Louis Agas-
siz," by Jules Marcou, gentleman who
seems to have had every facility fol
writing such work, says jeanette L.
Glider in the Chicago Tribune. More
! than 20 years have passed since the
graphies we're published directly afte,
/ his death there are those who claim no
true life of him has yet appeared; nearly
all, Mr.. Marcou thinks, have been too
eulogistic, while on the other hand some
rather severe structures and criticisms
have incidentally appeared in articles
purporting to give the lives OF some of
his associates or dealing with some spe-
cial question of natural history. The
truth lies between the two and Mr. Mar
cou has written this book to meet a rec
ognized want. During the last 20 years
he has made large collection Of mater
ial in the form of letters, recollections
of friends and contemporaries, and rare
pamphlets. with the design OF presenting
to the public the man himself; his 'ori-
gin, his character his public life, his
private life, his passions, his weaknesses.
his faults, his errors, his genius; what
he did and what he left undone; above
all, to put him in his place, in true
light, in correct prospective with its
lights and shadows, in the field of the
history of natural SCIENCE Mr. Mar
cou has tried to speak of his friend ''un-
influenced by the discordant voices
which have celebrated his efforts with
out discretion, or demolished his repu-
tation without measure" and he admits
that "his faults were small"
Mr.. Marcou enjoyed the friendship Of
Agassiz for nearly 80 years, and he tells
US that he was one OF the few men 'to
whom Agassiz half unbosomed himself" J"
MI. Marcou is the last survivor of the
small band of European naturalists who
came TO America with Agassiz. His ad-
miration of the man is not concealed,
but he SAYS: 81 have had constantly
in view the truth, and have tried to be
just not only towards him, but also to-
wards all those who were more or less
connected with him during his scientific
life" Agassiz, he tells us, kept up all
his life a very large correspondence,
either directly or by dictation. In Neu-
chatel he wrote at least five letters
daily not only to naturalists, savants in
ggeneral, and to his relatives, but also to
other friends and even statesmen and
historians, such as Theirs and Guizot in
France and later to Dom Pedro II. in
Brazil The number of his letters is
enormous, and until 1912 he kept copies
of them ALL Mr.. Marcou knows of one
of his correspondents who received more
I~k& 4 -
among these was not an easy task. Mrs.
Agassiz. in the life of her husband has
given certain number about 80, select
Agass;z's mother father and brother and
to some well known men OF science. I'm
willing to repeat what Mrs. Agassiz has
done, Mr.. Marcou has limited his QUOTA
tions to letters of Agassiz addressed to
practical naturalists, his contemporaries
working on kindred subjects. He has
carefully read and considered all docu-
ments and made constant use of his init
mate knowledge of AsassiZ. Scientific
ally they did not agree Oh all points, but
both We're satisfied to accept their differ
ences and opinions On the whole their
friendship was never shadowed by a
single disagreement. "The biography of
such man as Agassiz, says his biogra-
pher, Cannot be given by the publica-
tion of his letters only, because in let
ters the condolences are not so free, pre-
else or so full as can be desired; besides.
many letters for various reasons, can
not be published in full. Agassiz's sen-
ius was so spontaneous, so frankly nat
ural, so absolutely sincere that his phys
tognomy was most attractive, showing
always the great mobility OF his senti-
nents. He was one of those very few
men whose works were not sufficient to
make him entirely known; one must
meet him face to face. Agassiz was so
full of personal inspiration and original
thought that in order to have a just
idea of him naturalists went to Neuchat-
e., and afterwards to Cambridge, only to
see him and shake his hands. His in
dividuality was the subject of continual
observation by all those who surrounded
or approached him. He was OF an ex-
tremely rare and very complex type 1t
is impossible to group around him other
naturalists and to form a special class
of spirits relating to his. He surprised
every one by his constant watchfulness
and his uuickness to get at the truth of
nature Agassiz himself was more in
teresting than his works. His life is q
rare study
Until 1888 he wrote with his own hand
an enormous amount of manuscript;
nothing, we are told, discouraged him,
and he was always ready to use his pen,
even to copy papers or books which he
was too poor to purchase, or which it
was impossible to procure otherwise.
For many years he kept private jour
nal in which he wrote with great free
dom. He showed this interesting docu-
ment to Mr. Marcou, who had the priv
ilege Of reading In it some of his stud
ent adventures and .escapades. What
has become of this manuscript he does
not know. Agassiz from his youth until
his last illness. writes his biographer,
was overfowing with intellectual spirit
and vitality. He is rare example Of
manly qualities and activities. His in
fiuence on the progress and diffusion OF
natural history is second to none. Mr..
Marcou has tried to bring him before
the reader as he knew him. ss.If t, :, = he
says, ST do not produce an exact por-
trait OF the man and his life, it is due
inability to express my feeling
fOr man and his work III Mar
,eptz ell :as q SSH. orn at the
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