Not Under Forty Illustrated PDF Download

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1913 edition. Excerpt: ...and, with that aim, he went first to a medical school at Zurich, then to the University of Heidelberg, and finally to Munich, where he won his degree of doctor of medicine. I have called this story of Louis Agassiz's life "A Swiss Boy and His /Vanderings," because, as Longfellow said, the Swiss boy wandered away and away with Nature, the dear old Nurse," to many cities and to many lands; though his purpose was as fixed as the poles. To search and find the truth was, he believed, "the glory of Life." If we had been with Agassiz at college, we should have found that, in spite of infinite patience with a microscope, and a real longing to understand the sciences, in spite of this eagerness for knowledge, Agassiz's heart and body were almost as active as his head; he had kept his boyish love for fun and for adventure. At Heidelberg, he met a young man, named Alexander Braun, who loved plants as much as Agassiz loved animals; and a deep friendship sprang up between these two fellows which lasted all their lives. He and Braun were room-mates at Heidelberg, and doubtless often went swimming together in the Neckar, after lectures. Carl Schimper, a special friend of Braun's, went with them on their long trips for specimens, and he and Braun taught Agassiz many things about botany, while Agassiz taught them zoology: for he could "recognize the birds from far off by their song, and could give a name to every fish in the sea." It was delightful that these three friends, though they were separated for a little while after leaving Heidelberg, could join each other again at the University of Munich. Alexander Braun, in a letter to his father, gives us a little glimpse of their life: "Under Agassiz's new...