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completely, yet concisely, set forth. Readers of biography who delight
mainly in social gossip may complain of the absence of everything of the
kind; but such matter neither belonged to the subject nor was required
for its elucidation. We are prone to draw a distinction between what we
call a man's personal life and the larger and more active part of his
existence, and to fancy that the clue to his character lies in some
minor idiosyncrasies, or in habits and tastes that were perhaps
accidentally formed. But every earnest worker reveals in his methods and
achievements not alone his intellectual capacities, but all the deep
and essential qualities of his nature. With Agassiz this was
conspicuously the case. The enthusiasm, the singleness of purpose, and
the indefatigable energy that constituted the _fond_, so to speak, of
his character were as open to view as the features of his countenance.
Hence the single and strong impression he produced on all with whom he
came in contact, the sympathy he so quickly kindled, and the
co-operation he so readily enlisted. It was easily perceived that he was
no self-seeker, that no thought of personal interest mingled with his
devotion to science, and that he was not more intent on absorbing
knowledge than desirous of diffusing it. No one has ever more fully and
happily blended the qualities of student and teacher, and it was in this
double capacity that he became so public and prominent a figure and
exerted so wide an influence in the country of his adoption.

Some men overcome obstacles and attain their ends by sheer persistency
of will, others by tact and persuasiveness, while there is a third
class, before whom the barred doors open as they are successively
approached, through what are called either fortunate accidents or
Providential interventions, but are seen, on closer inspection, to have
been the direct and natural effects of the force unconsciously exerted
by an harmonious combination of qualities. Agassiz's career was full of
such instances. The insistent desire of his parents, while stinting
themselves to secure his education, that he should adopt a bread-winning
profession, yielded, not to any urgent appeals or dogged display of
resolution, but to the proof given by his labors that he was choosing
more wisely for himself. Cuvier, without any request or expectation,
resigned to the neophyte who, after following in his footsteps, was
outstripping him in certain lines, drawi