created or developed that in which he believed....

Beside his classes at the gymnasium, Agassiz collected about him, by
invitation, a small audience of friends and neighbors, to whom he
lectured during the winter on botany, on zoology, on the philosophy of
nature. The instruction was of the most familiar and informal
character, and was continued in later years for his own children and
the children of his friends. In the latter case the subjects were
chiefly geology and geography in connection with botany, and in
favorable weather the lessons were usually given in the open air....
From some high ground affording a wide panoramic view Agassiz would
explain to them the formation of lakes, islands, rivers, springs, water
-sheds, hills, and valleys....

When it was impossible to give the lessons out of doors, the children
were gathered around a large table, where each one had before him or
her the specimens of the day, sometimes stones and fossils, sometimes
flowers, fruits, or dried plants. To each child in succession was
explained separately what had first been told to all collectively....
The children took their own share in the instruction, and were
themselves made to point out and describe that which had just been
explained to them. They took home their collections, and as a
preparation for the next lesson were often called upon to classify and
describe some unusual specimen by their own unaided efforts.




III