Agassiz, When I Saw Him

Indeed Upon Much That May Have To Say, I Expect Rather The Charitable Judgment Than The Full Assent Of Those Whose Approbation I Could Most Wish To Win.

This View, As A Rounded Whole And In All Its Essential Elements, Has Very Recently Disappeared From Science. It Died A Royal Death With Agassiz.

Faith In Order, Which Is The Basis Of Science, Cannot Reasonably Be Separated From Faith In An Ordainer, Which Is The Basis Of Religion.

The Best Opinion Now Is, That There Are Multitudinous Forms Which Are Not Sufficiently Differentiated To Be Distinctively Either Plant Or Animal, While, As Respects Ordinary Plants And Animals, The Difficulty Of Laying Down A Definition Has Become Far Greater Than Ever Before.

Your Candor Is Worth Everything To Your Cause. It Is Refreshing To Find A Person With A New Theory Who Frankly Confesses That He Finds Difficulties, Insurmountable, At Least For The Present.