Science in the Grand Tradition

It is no longer necessary to tell people who Louis Agassiz was, how he transformed Harvard from college to university, put “Louis Agassiz, teacher,” on his gravestone, and gave America science as we know it, an integral part of its intellectual life, a discipline, a method of research and of education. Guy Davenport is interested in what comes next: an understanding of Agassiz sufficiently precise to enable us to understand ourselves. Hence this “Specimen Book,” an attempt to rescue Agassiz’s writing from the semi-oblivion of the back stacks of the library.

The Intelligence of Louis Agassiz, edited by Guy Davenport. Beacon, $5.00

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Vincent Miller

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It is no longer necessary to tell people who Louis Agassiz was, how he transformed Harvard from college to university, put “Louis Agassiz, teacher,” on his gravestone, and gave America science as we know it, an integral part of its intellectual life, a discipline, a method of research and of education. Guy Davenport is interested in what comes next: an understanding of Agassiz sufficiently precise to enable us to understand ourselves. Hence this “Specimen Book,” an attempt to rescue Agassiz’s writing from the semi-oblivion of the back stacks of the library.

The Intelligence of Louis Agassiz, edited by Guy Davenport. Beacon, $5.00