close of the hour, and said, "Are you Alex Braun?" "Yes, and you,
Louis Agassiz?" It seems that Professor Tiedemann, who must have
had a quick eye for affinities in the moral as well as in the
physical world, had said to Braun also, that he advised him to make
the acquaintance of a young Swiss naturalist who had just come, and
who seemed full of enthusiasm for his work. The two young men left
the lecture-room together, and from that time their studies, their
excursions, their amusements, were undertaken and pursued in each
other's company. In their long rambles, while they collected
specimens in their different departments of Natural History, Braun
learned zoology from Agassiz, and he, in his turn, learned botany
from Braun. This was, perhaps, the reason why Alexander Braun,
afterward Director of the Botanical Gardens in Berlin, knew more of
zoology than other botanists, while Agassiz himself combined an
extensive knowledge of botany with his study of the animal kingdom.
That the attraction was mutual may be seen by the following extract
from a letter of Alexander Braun to his father.

BRAUN To HIS FATHER.

HEIDELBERG, May 12, 1826.

. . .In my leisure hours, between the forenoon and afternoon
lectures, I go to the dissecting-room, where, in company with
another young naturalist who has appeared like a rare comet on the
Heidelberg horizon, I dissect all manner of beasts, such as dogs,
cats, birds, fishes, and even smaller fry, snails, butterflies,
caterpillars, worms, and the like. Beside this, we always have from
Tiedemann the very best books for reference and comparison, for he
has a fine library, especially rich in anatomical works, and is