Abstract
TO the common remark that nowhere in the United States does an Englishman feel himself so much at home as in Boston; a student of science may add that nowhere else does he meet with so much to remind him of the intellectual activity and enthusiasm for science that mark the great centres of life in the old country. Boston can boast of one or two of the oldest and most active scientific societies in America, owhich for generations have gathered together and sustained an able succession of workers. In the neighbouring venerable Harvard it enjoys a perennial fountain whence it may draw for ever fresh stores of inspiration and encouragement. This influence of the University is everywhere apparent. Among those who take a lead in promoting science by discovery and exposition among the Boston citizens, Harvard men occupy always a foremost place. A stranger, however, with leisure and opportunity to note some of the more salient features in the scientific life of Massachusets soon comes to realise the pervading influence of one man. He sees it in the ordinary cultivated society of Boston, he meets with it at every turn in Harvard, he finds it uniting as a common bond of sympathy the younger scientific men of the state. The name of Louis Agassiz has become a household word in the community, and, among the scientific workers, sounds as a rallying cry to unite them for common sympathy and support. Great as were Agassiz's solid contributions to the literature of science, they form a monument to his genius not perhaps more honourable or enduring than the impetus which his example and ceaseless enthusiasm gave to the progress of science in his adopted country. To have written the immortal “Recherches sur les Poissons fossiles” and to have founded so vigorous a school of science at Harvard combine to give him a high place in the temple of fame.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
G., A. Boston and Harvard . Nature 21, 149–150 (1879). https://doi.org/10.1038/021149a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/021149a0