Elizabeth Cary Agassiz, Louis Agassiz: his life and correspondence, third edition

[777] earth, from the dawn of organic life till now. In his opening lecture he said to his class: ‘You must learn to look upon fossil forms as the antiquarian looks upon his coins. The remains of animals and plants have the spirit of their time impressed upon them, as strongly as the spirit of the age is impressed upon its architecture, its literature, its coinage. I want you to become so familiar with these forms, that you can read off at a glance their character and associations.’ In this spirit his last course was conceived. It was as far-reaching and as clear as usual, nor did his delivery evince failure of strength or of mental power. If he showed in any way the disease which was even then upon him, it was by an over-tension of the nerves, which gave increased fervor to his manner. Every mental effort was, however, succeeded by great physical fatigue.

At the same time he had undertaken a series of articles in the ‘Atlantic Monthly,’ entitled, ‘Evolution and Permanence of Type.’ They were to have contained his own convictions regarding the connection between all living beings, upon which his studies had led him to conclusions so different from the philosophy of the day. Of these papers, only