years at a university in Germany, and finally finish my studies at
Paris, where I would stay about five years. Then, at the age of
twenty-five, I could begin to write."

Agassiz's note-books, preserved by his parents, who followed the
education of their children with the deepest interest, give
evidence of his faithful work both at school and college. They form
a great pile of manuscript, from the paper copy-books of the
school-boy to the carefully collated reports of the college
student, begun when the writer was ten or eleven years of age and
continued with little interruption till he was eighteen or
nineteen. The later volumes are of nearly quarto size and very
thick, some of them containing from four to six hundred closely
covered pages; the handwriting is small, no doubt for economy of
space, but very clear. The subjects are physiological,
pathological, and anatomical, with more or less of general natural
history. This series of books is kept with remarkable neatness.
Even in the boy's copy-books, containing exercises in Greek, Latin,
French and German, with compositions on a variety of topics, the
writing is even and distinct, with scarcely a blot or an erasure.
From the very beginning there is a careful division of subjects
under clearly marked headings, showing even then a tendency toward
an orderly classification of facts and thoughts.

It is evident from the boyish sketch which he drew of his future
plans that the hope of escaping the commercial life projected for
him, and of dedicating himself to letters and learning, was already
dawning. He had begun to feel the charm of study, and his
scientific tastes, though still pursued rather as the pastimes of a
boy than as the investigations of a student, were nevertheless