One With God - Louis Agassiz, the Scientist

I remember a story from somewhere that, after the summer vacation, several renowned scientists at Harvard met for a friendly gathering. The various professors shared stories of their summer travels. Agassiz listened quietly.

At last, one member said, "Mr. Agassiz, you have not spoken. How did you spend your vacation?"
Mr. Agassiz replied, "I got halfway across my back yard."
I have remembered that story always, and on the basis of that remark, I have admired a person who I imagined, felt as close to the lives of nature as I do.

Now, with Google's help, I have learned that the late Mr. Agassz and I, in our spirituaity, are also one. I can't believe it has taken me so long to know more fully about a person I have admired and knew so little about.

From Google
Louis Agassiz (1807-1873)

"I have devoted my whole life to the study of Nature, and yet a single sentence may express all that I have done. I have shown that there is a correspondence between the succession of Fishes in geological times and the different stages of their growth in the egg, -- that is all. It chanced to be a result that was found to apply to other groups and has led to other conclusions of a like nature."
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Louis Agassiz, 1869
"Agassiz saw the Divine Plan of God everywhere in nature, and could not reconcile himself to a theory that did not invoke design. He defined a species as "a thought of God."

As he wrote in his "Essay on Classification": "The combination in time and space of all of these thoughtful conceptions exhibits not only thought, it shows also premeditation, power, wisdom, greatness, prescience, omniscience, providence.
In one word, all of these facts in their natural connection, proclaim aloud the One God, whom man may know, adore, and love. Natural History must in good time become the analysis of the thoughts of the Creator of the Universe."

By 1857 Agassiz was so well-loved that Longfellow wrote "The fiftieth birthday of Agassiz" in his honour.

Agassiz brought science to "the man in the street" as no one else had before. People from all over the world read his books, sent him specimens, and asked his advice.

By the time of his death, on December 14, 1873, he was publicly recognized as America's leading scientist. See in Google, "Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) http://google.com/

marylee manson armour
"Years back" and July18,2007