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engaged in making, under Agassiz's direction, the illustrations for the Spix Fishes, was also giving his spare hours to the same objects.
Mr. Dinkel says of Agassiz's student life at this time:1—
‘I soon found myself engaged four or five hours almost daily in painting for him freshwater fishes from the life, while he was at my side, sometimes writing out his descriptions, sometimes directing me. . .. He never lost his temper, though often under great trial; he remained self-possessed and did everything calmly, having a friendly smile for every one and a helping hand for those who were in need.
He was at that time scarcely twenty years old, and was already the most prominent among the students at Munich.
They loved him, and had a high consideration for him. I had seen him at the Swiss students' club several times, and had observed him among the jolly students; he liked merry society, but he himself was in general reserved and never noisy.
He picked out the gifted and highlylearned students, and would not waste his time ’
1 Extract from notes written out in English by Mr. Dinkel after the death of Agassiz and sent to me. The English, though a little foreign, is so expressive that it would lose by any attempt to change it, and the writer will excuse me for inserting his vivid sketch just as it stands.—E. C. A.
Houghton, Mifflin and company, New York, Boston, 1885.
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