Life, Letters, and Works of Louis Agassiz

On the basis of extensive material in the form of letters, pamphlets and the recollections of friends and contemporaries, Jules Marcou (1824–1898) tells the story of the life and work of Louis Agassiz in this two-volume work of 1896. The Swiss-born palaeontologist, glaciologist and zoologist (1807–1873) is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the modern American scientific tradition. Marcou, a fellow countryman and collaborator of Agassiz, does not attempt to conceal his high regard for the subject of his biography but does have 'in view the truth'. In a chronological narrative, Volume 2 tells of Agassiz' professorship at Harvard and the founding in 1859 of the Museum of Contemporary Zoology, where he remained as director until his death. Although Darwin believed the Swiss scientist's theory on parallelisms provided evidence for evolution, Agassiz was no evolutionist but saw the plan of God everywhere in nature.