Famous Men of Science Part 22

And the glad mother writes back: "I cannot thank you enough, my dear Louis, for the happiness you have given me in completing your medical examinations, and thus securing to yourself a career as safe as it is honorable.... You have for my sake gone through a long and arduous task; were it in my power I would gladly reward you, but I cannot even say that I love you the more for it, because that is impossible. My anxious solicitude for your future is a proof of my ardent affection for you; only one thing was wanting to make me the happiest of mothers, and this, my Louis, you have just given me."

Aga.s.siz had taken the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, a year earlier.

"The time had come," said he, years afterward, "when even the small allowance I received from borrowed capital must cease. I was now twenty-four years of age. I was Doctor of Philosophy and Medicine, and author of a quarto volume on the fishes of Brazil. I had travelled on foot all over Southern Germany, visited Vienna, and explored extensive tracts of the Alps. I knew every animal, living and fossil, in the museums of Munich, Stuttgart, Tubingen, Erlangen, Wurzburg, Carlsruhe, and Frankfort; but my prospects were as dark as ever, and I saw no hope of making my way in the world, except by the practical pursuit of my profession as physician."

December 4, 1830, Aga.s.siz said good-by to Munich, and started with Mr.

d.i.n.kel, his artist, for Concise, his father having moved there from Orbe. Here he remained a year, arranging, meantime, his own valuable collections in natural history, at the house of his grandfather Mayor, at Cudrefin, on Lake Neuchatel, and practising a little in medicine, in the neighboring villages.

He longed to go to Paris for study, but poverty was his constant companion. Finally, an old friend of his father, a Swiss clergyman, M.

Christinot, having come into possession of a small amount of money, urged his young friend to take it. His uncle also contributed a little, and Aga.s.siz and d.i.n.kel left for Paris in September, 1831.

On their arrival they found inexpensive lodgings, and at once began to work in the museums. He writes to his sister Olympe: "M. Cuvier and M.

Humboldt especially treat me on all occasions as an equal, and facilitate for me the use of the scientific collections so that I can work here as if I were at home.... In the morning I follow the chemical courses at the Pitie.... At ten o'clock, or perhaps at eleven, I breakfast, and then go to the Museum of Natural History, where I stay till dark. Between five and six I dine, and after that turn to such medical studies as do not require daylight.... On Sat.u.r.day only, I spend the evening at M. Cuvier's."

He writes later to his brother that there is another excellent reason why he does not spend more evenings in society, because he has "no presentable coat.... You can imagine that, after the fuel bill for the winter is paid, little remains for other expenses out of my two hundred francs a month, five louis of which are always due to my companion. Far from having anything in advance, my month's supply is thus taken up at once." Evidently he had no more money than when he and Auguste copied whole volumes at the Zurich school.

Cuvier was so much drawn to the young naturalist that he gave him and his artist a corner in one of his own laboratories, and, more than this, his drawings of fossil fishes and notes which he had taken in the British Museum and elsewhere. Cuvier said, three months later, with regard to some work, "You are young; you have time enough for it, and I have none to spare."

Aga.s.siz now studied fifteen hours daily, sometimes seventeen. Cuvier commended his devotion, but said one evening as he left him, "Be careful, and remember that _work kills_." The next day he was paralyzed and died soon after, Aga.s.siz never seeing him again.

It became evident that Paris, with her scientific treasures, could not be enjoyed longer. He must go back to Switzerland, and find a place to teach, as his sympathetic mother urged him to do. Just when the sky was darkest, a letter came from Humboldt, enclosing a check for one thousand francs! "Consider it," he said, "an advance which need not be paid for years, and which I will gladly increase when I go away or even earlier.

It would pain me deeply should the urgency of my request, made in the closest confidence,--in short, a transaction as between two friends of unequal age,--be disagreeable to you. I should wish to be pleasantly remembered by a young man of your character. Yours, with the most affectionate respect, Alexander Humboldt."

How delicately offered was this charity in the guise of a loan! To give is blessed; to give without wounding the recipient is more blessed still!

The tender heart of Aga.s.siz was deeply moved. He wrote his mother: "Oh!

if my mother would forget for one moment that this is the celebrated M.

de Humboldt, and find courage to write him only a few lines, how grateful I should be to her. I think it would come better from her than from papa, who would do it more correctly, no doubt, but perhaps not quite as I should like."

She wrote a thankful letter, and the great man replied: "I should scold your son, madame, for having spoken to you of the slight mark of interest I have been able to show him; and yet, how can I complain of a letter so touching, so n.o.ble in sentiment, as the one I have just received from your hand? Accept my warmest thanks for it.... One might well despair of the world if a person like your son, with information so substantial and manners so sweet and prepossessing, should fail to make his way."

This money made it possible for Aga.s.siz to work in Paris, until a professorship of Natural History was created for him at Neuchatel, through the influence of Humboldt and others. Humboldt wrote: "Aga.s.siz is distinguished by his talents, by the variety and substantial character of his attainments, and by that which has a special value in these troubled times, his natural sweetness of disposition."

This "sweetness of disposition" was worth more to Aga.s.siz, all through life, than a fortune. It drew everybody to him. It opened the pockets of the wealthy to carry forward his great projects. It won the hearts of his pupils on two hemispheres. It made his home a delight, and his presence a constant blessing.

He a.s.sumed the duties of his professorship at Neuchatel in the autumn of 1832, giving his first lecture, "Upon the Relations between the different branches of Natural History and the then prevailing tendencies of all the Sciences," November 12, at the Hotel de Ville. A society for the study of the natural sciences was soon formed, and Aga.s.siz became its secretary. So natural, so enthusiastic, so full of his subject, was he, that everybody became interested. To little companies of his friends and neighbors he lectured on botany, on zoology, and the philosophy of nature. Even the children were delighted to gather and be told how lakes, springs, rivers, and valleys are formed.

"When it was impossible to give the lessons out-of-doors, the children were gathered around a large table, where each one had before him or her the specimens of the day, sometimes stones and fossils, sometimes flowers, fruits, or dried plants.... When the talk was of tropical or distant countries, pains were taken to procure characteristic specimens, and the children were introduced to dates, bananas, cocoa-nuts, and other fruits, not to be easily obtained in those days in a small inland town. They, of course, concluded the lesson by eating the specimen, a practical ill.u.s.tration which they greatly enjoyed."

Three months after his settlement at Neuchatel, where eighty louis had been guaranteed to him for three years, he was invited to Heidelberg, to succeed his former professor, Leuckart, in zoology. He would receive a salary of five hundred florins, besides about fifteen hundred gulden for lectures and literary work. He declined the honor, because he wished more time to devote to his writing. The following year Neuchatel purchased his collections in natural history, thus affording him some pecuniary aid in his work.

A serious misfortune now threatened him in the loss of sight. Having injured his eyes by microscopic work, for several months he was shut up in a dark room, practising the study of his fossils by touch alone; by the tongue when the fingers were not sufficiently sensitive to feel out the impression. With great care his eyes improved, so that he was able to use them through life more constantly than most persons.

In October, 1833, when he was twenty-six, Aga.s.siz married Cecile Braun of Carlsruhe, the sister of his life-long friend Alexander. They began housekeeping in a small apartment at Neuchatel, both practising the closest economy that the books might be carried on; the "Fresh-Water Fishes," and the "Fossil Fishes." She was a skilful artist, had done much work for her brother in botany, and now helped her young husband in drawing and coloring his fishes.

The first number of the "Fossil Fishes" had already appeared, with the following t.i.tle, which shows the plan of the great work, to which he devoted ten years, from 1833 to 1843:--

"Researches on the Fossil Fishes: comprising an Introduction to the Study of these Animals; the Comparative Anatomy of Organic Systems which may contribute to facilitate the Determination of Fossil Species; a New Cla.s.sification of Fishes, expressing their relations to the Series of Formations; the Explanation of the Laws of their Succession and Development during all the Changes of the Terrestrial Globe, accompanied by General Geological Considerations; finally, the Description of about a thousand Species which no longer exist, and whose Characters have been restored from Remains contained in the Strata of the Earth."

The work was inscribed to Humboldt. "These pages owe to you their existence; accept their dedication." It met everywhere the most favorable reception. elie de Beaumont wrote to Aga.s.siz: "It promises a work as important for science as it is remarkable in execution. Do not let yourself be discouraged by obstacles of any kind; they will give way before the concert of approbation which so excellent a work will awaken."

Aga.s.siz had become known to scholars throughout Europe, as an indefatigable worker, but he was still poor. Now and then there came a gleam of sunshine into the straitened life. In 1834, he was greatly surprised to receive from the London Geological Society, through Sir Charles Lyell, the Wollaston prize, of about one hundred and fifty dollars, conferred upon him for his work on fishes.

He writes back to Lyell: "You cannot imagine the joy your letter has given me. The prize awarded me is at once so unexpected an honor and so welcome an aid that I could hardly believe my eyes when, with tears of relief and grat.i.tude, I read your letter. In the presence of a savant, I need not be ashamed of my penury, since I have spent the little I had wholly in scientific researches. I do not, therefore, hesitate to confess to you that at no time could your gift have given me greater pleasure. Generous friends have helped me to bring out the first number of my 'Fossil Fishes;' the plates of the second are finished, but I was greatly embarra.s.sed to know how to print a sufficient number of copies before the returns from the first should be paid in. The text is ready also, so that now, in a fortnight, I can begin the distribution, and, the rotation once established, I hope that preceding numbers will always enable me to publish the next in succession without interruption. I even count upon this resource as affording me the means of making a journey to England before long."

In August, 1834, Aga.s.siz went to England, and there formed delightful friendships with such men as Lyell, Murchison, Buckland, and others. He was allowed to cull, from sixty or more collections, some two thousand fossil fishes, and deposit them in the Somerset House in London, where Mr. d.i.n.kel, the artist, remained for several years at work, copying.

In the summer of 1836, he began his remarkable study of the glaciers. He was so cramped for means to carry forward his "Fossil Fishes," that it seemed probable that he must discontinue it, when opportunely his original drawings were purchased by Lord Francis Egerton and given to the British Museum. The financial condition was thus bettered for a time.

His investigation of the slopes of the Jura led to an address before the Helvetic a.s.sociation a.s.sembled at Neuchatel in 1837, in which he said: "Siberian winter established itself for a time over a world previously covered with a rich vegetation and peopled with large mammalia, similar to those now inhabiting the warm regions of India and Africa. Death enveloped all nature in a shroud, and the cold, having reached its highest degree, gave to this ma.s.s of ice, at the maximum of tension, the greatest possible hardness." He showed how huge boulders had been distributed over the continent.

His views excited much opposition, from most of the older geologists.

Even Humboldt said, "Your ice frightens me." But the discussion convinced the scientific world that Aga.s.siz was both original and brilliant. He was soon called to a professorship of geology and mineralogy at Geneva, with a salary of three thousand francs, and also to Lausanne; but he refused both offers. So pleased were the people of Neuchatel that they made him accept a present of six thousand francs, payable during three years.

In 1838, Aga.s.siz founded a lithographic printing establishment in Neuchatel, where his work could be done under his own direction instead of in Munich. He was now, besides his duties as professor, at work on "Living and Fossil Echinoderms and Mollusks," as well as "Fresh-Water and Fossil Fishes," and soon after upon the "etudes sur les Glaciers,"

with an atlas of thirty-two plates. The book gave an account of all previous glacial study, and the observations of himself and companions.

"Aga.s.siz displayed during these years," said one of his co-workers, "an incredible energy, of which the history of science offers, perhaps, no other example." He worked always till midnight, often till two or three o'clock, sitting for hours at his microscope, troubled much with congestion of the head and eyes. The expense involved in his work was enormous, and he was burdening himself with debts, which are more wearing and destructive to health and happiness than any amount of work can ever be.

Still he struggled on, through these dark days of poverty. He was only thirty-three, so young-looking that, on seeing him, people asked if he were "the son of the celebrated professor of Neuchatel." He had already been chosen a member of the Royal Society of London.

In 1840 he made his first permanent station on the Alps, taking with him barometers, thermometers, hygrometers, psychometers, boring apparatus, and microscopes, making the Hospice of the Grimsel his base of supplies, and the lower Aar glacier the scene of his work. A huge boulder, its upper surface forming a roof, with a stone wall constructed on one side, became the sleeping-room of Aga.s.siz and five friends. This abode was called the Hotel des Neuchatelois. Jacob Leuthold, an intrepid Swiss, was their chief guide. He died at thirty-seven, sincerely mourned by all. They made dangerous ascents of snow-covered peaks, measured the depth and forward movement of glaciers, Aga.s.siz even being lowered by ropes one hundred and twenty-five feet into a glacial well, to investigate its formation.

All Europe was becoming interested in glaciers. Edward Forbes wrote from Edinburgh: "You have made all the geologists glacier-mad here, and they are turning Great Britain into an ice-house." Darwin was deeply interested. He wrote from North Wales: "The valley about here and the site of the inn at which I am now writing must once have been covered by at least eight hundred or one thousand feet in thickness of solid ice!

Eleven years ago I spent a whole day in the valley where yesterday everything but the ice of the glaciers was palpably clear to me, and I then saw nothing but plain water and bare rock."

Aga.s.siz now began work on his "Nomenclator Zoologicus," and his "Bibliographia Zoologiae et Geologiae," the former comprising "an enumeration of all the genera of the animal kingdom, with the etymology of their names, the names of those who had first proposed them, and the date of their publication." The latter contained a list of all the authors named in the Nomenclator, with notices of their works. This was published by the Royal Society in England, in 1848, the expense being too great for one person.

In 1843 the "Fossil Fishes," in five large volumes, was completed, and the following year his "Monograph on the Fossil Fishes of the Old Red Sandstone, or the Devonian System of Great Britain and Russia," was published, a large volume accompanied by forty-one plates. The discovery of these fossils was due to Hugh Miller, whose interesting life and pathetic death will always be a.s.sociated with the study of the Old Red Sandstone.

In the spring of 1846, a great change took place in the life of the overworked naturalist. He had long hoped to visit the United States for scientific investigation, and now the time had come. The King of Prussia, at the request of Humboldt, granted him fifteen thousand francs for this purpose--he had previously given Aga.s.siz one thousand dollars for his glacial researches.... Leaving his wife and daughters with Alexander Braun, her brother, at Carlsruhe, and his son Alexander at school at Neuchatel, Aga.s.siz said good-by to his students, who came at two o'clock at night, in procession with torchlights. Going to Paris, he spent some time in bringing out his second work upon the glaciers, "Systeme Glaciaire," receiving the Monthyon Prize of Physiology from the Academy, and sailed for America in September, 1846.

Humboldt wrote him from Sans-Souci: "Be happy in this new undertaking, and preserve for me the first place under the head of friendship in your heart. When you return, I shall be here no more, but the king and queen will receive you on this historic hill with the affection which, for so many reasons, you merit. Your illegible but much attached friend."

Sir Charles Lyell, of England, who had given a successful course of lectures before the Lowell Inst.i.tute, Boston, arranged a similar course with Mr. Lowell for his friend Aga.s.siz. Perhaps money has never been given more wisely in our country than by the refined John Lowell, Jr., of Boston, who, dying in a foreign country at thirty-seven, bereft of wife and children, left a quarter of a million dollars to "provide for regular courses of _free_ public lectures upon the most important branches of natural and moral science, to be annually delivered in the city of Boston." None of the bequest could be used for buildings, and ten per cent. of the acc.u.mulation of the fund was to be set aside annually to continue it. Since December 1, 1839, from six to ten courses have been given yearly to large audiences, by some of the most distinguished persons in Europe and America.

"Natural and moral science!" How broad the subject, and how incalculable the benefit to any city, great or small! What a means for the best general education; what an uplifting of the whole mental and social life of a community!

Aga.s.siz came to Boston and gave twelve lectures on the "Plan of the Creation, especially in the Animal Kingdom." His speech had a foreign accent; but his enthusiastic love of his subject, his skill in drawing on the blackboard, and his eloquent but simple language soon won all hearts.

He was as pleased with the Americans as they were with him. He wrote to his beloved mother (his father had died ten years before): "I can only say that the educated Americans are very accessible and very pleasant.

They are obliging to the utmost degree; indeed, their cordiality toward strangers exceeds any that I have met elsewhere.... The liberality of the American naturalists toward me is unparalleled.... The government (of the State of New York) has just completed the publication of a work unique of its kind, a natural history of the State in sixteen volumes, quarto, with plates. Twenty-five hundred copies have been printed, only five hundred of which are for sale, the rest being distributed throughout the State. Four volumes are devoted to geology and mining alone; the others, to zoology, botany, and agriculture. Yes, twenty-five hundred copies of a work in sixteen volumes, quarto, scattered throughout the State of New York alone!

"When I think that I began my studies in natural history by copying hundreds of pages from a Lamarck which some one had lent me, and that to-day there is a state in which the smallest farmer may have access to a costly work, worth a library to him in itself, I bless the efforts of those who devote themselves to public instruction."

Aga.s.siz was at once asked to give a second course before the Lowell Inst.i.tute, on glaciers. This, like the first, was greatly enjoyed by the two thousand or more persons present. Invitations now came from other cities, but he said, "I will limit myself to what I need in order to repay those who have helped me through a difficult crisis.... Beyond that all must go again to science,--there lies my true mission."

He pa.s.sed his fortieth birthday, May 28, 1847, with Dr. B. E. Cotting, curator of the Lowell Inst.i.tute, at whose home he had stayed through some weeks of illness. His host, seeing him standing thoughtfully at the window, said, "Why so sad?"