Darwin-L Message Log 4:52 (December 1993)

Academic Discussion on the History and Theory of the Historical Sciences

This is one message from the Archives of Darwin-L (1993–1997), a professional discussion group on the history and theory of the historical sciences.

Note: Additional publications on evolution and the historical sciences by the Darwin-L list owner are available on SSRN.

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<4:52>From DARWIN@iris.uncg.edu  Tue Dec 14 12:46:51 1993

Date: Tue, 14 Dec 1993 13:53:20 -0400 (EDT)
From: DARWIN@iris.uncg.edu
Subject: December 14 -- Today in the Historical Sciences
To: darwin-l@ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu
Organization: University of NC at Greensboro

DECEMBER 14 -- TODAY IN THE HISTORICAL SCIENCES

1873: JEAN LOUIS RODOLPHE AGASSIZ dies at Cambridge, Massachusetts.  As a
young naturalist in Swizerland, France, and Germany, Agassiz did foundational
work in paleontology and historical geology, and in his _Etudes sur les
glaciers_ (Neuchatel, 1840) he presented the first comprehensive theory of
the Ice Age.  Following his emigration to the United States he established
the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University in 1859, and later
contributed to the founding of the United States National Academy of Sciences.
The poet James Russell Lowell will hear of Agassiz's death while travelling
in Italy, and will eulogize him in the _Atlantic Monthly_:

         ...with vague, mechanic eyes,
    I scanned the festering news we half despise...
    When suddenly,

    As happens if the brain, from overweight
    Of blood, infect the eye,
    Three tiny words grew lurid as I read,
    and reeled commingling: Agassiz is dead!

           ...the wise of old
    Welcome and own him of their peaceful fold...
    And Cuvier clasps once more his long lost son.

    We have not lost him all; he is not gone
    To the dumb herd of them that wholly die;
    The beauty of his better self lives on
    In minds he touched with fire, in many an eye
    He trained to Truth's exact severity;
    He was a Teacher: why be grieved for him
    Whose living word still stimulates the air?
    In endless file shall loving scholars come
    The glow of his transmitted touch to share.

Today in the Historical Sciences is a feature of Darwin-L, an international
discussion group on the history and theory of the historical sciences.  For
information send the message INFO DARWIN-L to listserv@ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu.

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