B 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
PENIKESE 
 
 REMINISCENCE 
 
 BY 
 
 ONE OF ITS PUPILS 
 
 \ 
 
 "Yea, it becomes a man 
 
 To cherish memory, where he had delight." 
 
 Sophocles: Ajax, 
 
 1895 
 
 FRANK H. LATTIN, PUBLISHER, 
 ALBION N TT 
 
COPYRIGHT" 
 1895 
 
DEDICATION. 
 TO 
 ALL 
 
 TO WHOM THE MEMORY OF 
 TENIKESE 
 
 AND OF 
 
 ITS MASTER 
 
 IS DEAR. 
 
 M368675 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The material of which this little volume is com- 
 posed furnishes the apology which its author would 
 make for its appearance. 
 
 It was begun in the summer of 1873, at Penikese 
 Island; and has been retouched, constantly, since 
 then, in the hope that it might, at sometime, be suit- 
 able for publication. 
 
 As it seems best no longer to withold its pages 
 from the public imperfect though they may be 
 they are now presented to you by 
 
 The Author. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE JOURNEY. 
 
 Penikese is a name ever to be remembered by me 
 with the greatest of pleasure, for it was there I 
 passed some of the happiest hours of my life. I re- 
 member it all: the ground, with its undulating billows 
 sodded with the sparing green and brown of low 
 grasses or covered with sandy loam; the waters, with 
 their rusty and smutty rocks rearing their jagged 
 edges above the quiet expanse of the bay, or dashed 
 against by turbulent waves; and the boulders, with 
 their whitened faces, lying confusedly as they had 
 been cast upon the wave-beaten beaches or strewn, 
 like ancient sentinels, here and there about the 
 fields; I picture them all as if it were but yesterday. 
 Then the buildings the laboratories, the lecture- 
 rooms, and the professors' house (the last the, most 
 conspicuous of them all), mean in themselves yet 
 dear from their associations, I think of each and I 
 love each. Ah! Shall I ever experience such free, 
 such happy, such truly joyous hours again? But 
 let me tell you how I happened going to Penikese 
 Island, and what I saw, heard, and did there. 
 
 I had been sitting, one fine morning in early 
 spring, by a cosy grate fire, perusing the columns of 
 my favorite morning paper, when my eyes fell upon 
 a short paragraph which instantly arrested my atten- 
 tion. It was the notice of a ''Summer School of 
 Natural History," and read as follows: 
 
10 PENIKESE. 
 
 "Mr. John Anderson, of New York, has presented to a 
 body of Trustees, the island called Penikese, in Buzzard's 
 Bay, for the site for a Summer School of Natural History, to 
 be in the charge of Professor Louis Agassiz, whose purpose 
 is to give free instruction, to teachers of the sciences, in cor- 
 rect methods of study in this most important branch of edu- 
 cation." 
 
 The subject was one of peculiar interest to me, 
 and, as I read, visions of what a grand opportunity 
 would thus be afforded to study Nature so filled my 
 mind, that they took complete possession of my 
 senses. 
 
 Natural History was always and is now for that 
 matter, my favorite study; one might almost say I 
 had been born and bred a Naturalist. From my 
 earliest recollection I was often made supremely 
 happy by the present of a robin's or a sparrow's egg, 
 or some other similarly common natural object, from 
 the bounteous collection of a friend. To me, if was 
 untold gold. If an egg, I would hold the delicate 
 shell in my fingers, slowly and carefully turn it from 
 side to side, examine its glossy surface and perfect 
 proportions, look at the holes in its extremities to see 
 how thick the shell itself might be, and often though 
 I hardly dare to tell it for fear of being laughed at 
 wonder how much wind had been required to expel 
 its contents. From my first egg I soon reached my 
 hundredth and more. Then I formed the plan of 
 making a general collection in all of the different 
 branches of Natural History which, carried into ef- 
 fect, was successful beyond my most sanguine ex- 
 pectation. Thus, at an early period of my life, in 
 the full glow of scientific ardor, a short and almost 
 insignificant newspaper paragraph insignificant, per- 
 haps, to all save a few appeared at once to open to 
 me a possible path to scientific fame and attainment 
 that, in my youthful ambition, seemed limitless. The 
 opportunity and the Master, the best that the coun- 
 try, nay the world, then afforded! I immediately ap- 
 plied for admission, and received, by return of mail, 
 an answer from Professor Agassiz himself in 
 
THE JOURNEY. I I 
 
 his own hand-writing and with his own autograph at- 
 tached accepting me as his pupil and inclosing full 
 instructions. Thenceforward I could eat, drink, 
 think, and dream of nothing save Penikese. Oh, how 
 I longed for the time to come when I might journey 
 thither. 
 
 At length the day for my departure arrived. How 
 eagerly and with what a glad heart I packed my 
 trunk and valise and started for the nearest railroad 
 station. My friends must certainly have thought me 
 hard-hearted as I left them, shouting my good-byes 
 from the top of the coach to which I had sprung, 
 with as much apparent joy as if a rich Uncle had just 
 died and bequeathed me a fortune, and I was forth- 
 with going into the possession of it. 
 
 I was soon on board the train and travelling toward 
 my destination. How slowly we appeared to move. 
 It seemed as if I might easily have outdistanced this 
 or any other train, today, on foot, and yet we must 
 have been going at a fairly rapid speed. Having com- 
 posed myself as best I could I found amusement, for 
 a time, in watching from the window, as they passed 
 in quick succession, the fields, covered with eurling 
 stalks of young grain or downy with soft heads of 
 timothy and other grasses; the new-mown hay lying 
 in loosely scattered heaps or gracefully-curled swaths 
 upon its bristling stubble; or, here and there, a soli- 
 tary person still working at his daily toil. Close by, 
 in a nearer portion of one of the meadows, a tall, 
 lank individual was standing on an immense load of 
 hay, upon which he was stowing away fork-full after 
 fork-full as it was pitched to him by an equally tall, 
 lank individual, who was standing on the ground be- 
 low; while a fine pair of blacks stood, in lamb-like 
 attitude, just in front of the load. Another moment, 
 and, frightened by the noise of the train, the blacks 
 were scouring the fields, like a pair of wild prairie 
 mustangs, bearing with them the fast-decreasing pile, 
 while one of the tall, lank individuals was assisting 
 the other to rise from the ground. Then we dashed 
 
12 PENIKESE. 
 
 by to where a number of coatless workers were rak- 
 ing the hay, with the utmost diligence, into small, 
 rounded piles, that it might the more easily be pitch- 
 ed upon the cart which should arrive for it. Past 
 these we went, to a large swamp dotted here and 
 there with hummocks where grasses, huge, rough 
 brakes, and delicate ferns grew in luxuriance and 
 abundance; and upon some of them, nearest the 
 track, I could even distinguish wild flowers rearing 
 aloft their slender stems and delicate heads, and tell 
 the species of many of them. Then we came to a 
 long, thickly-wooded stretch, where a forest of trees, 
 large and small, extended far along the track on 
 either side, arching their tops and intermingling 
 their branches as if they would bind us with their 
 mystic spell; but, like a prisoner who would not be 
 bound, we dashed through and by them, only to 
 emerge into the light of still more fields, and still 
 new scenes. Weary with gazing at these, I then, 
 tried to count the telegraph poles as they appeared 
 to whiz by us, or watched the wires as they travelled, 
 or appeared to travel, now up and now down my 
 window, as the height of one pole above another or 
 the inequalities of the road-bed showed themselves. 
 Thus/ amusing myself, now with this scene now with 
 that, we journeyed on, hour after hour, until, at 
 length, the scene materially changed and salt water 
 put in its appearance. Then the houses began to 
 thicken, and the smoke and confused arrangement of 
 a big metropolis loomed in the distance. Presently 
 the train, after passing through a perfect labyrinthine 
 maze of houses, streets, archways, and narrow alley- 
 ways, stopped, and we found ourselves safely landed 
 at the "Hub of the Universe" Boston. 
 
 From Boston we left directly for New Bedford, 
 where we arrived about seven o'clock that evening 
 and immediately engaged rooms for the night. Here 
 the hotel was alive with excitement. Carriages were 
 constantly arriving with guests, mostly students like 
 ourselves, and bent upon the same errand. Men, 
 
THE JOURNEY. 13 
 
 both old and young, were going to and fro in all di- 
 rections; porters, carrying huge trunks upon their 
 shoulders, were continually running against the pass- 
 ers-by, or stumbling about under their loads to the 
 seeming peril of a bevy of small boys, who were in 
 everybody's way; and waiters, with white aprons, 
 nicely balancing upon the tips of their fingers large 
 trays filled with dishes, were hurrying here and there 
 in apparently endless confusion. The clerk's desk 
 occupied, very nearly, the centre of the room or long 
 hall in which we found ourselves upon entering the 
 hotel, hence, to the general confusion was added 
 the bustle and crowd attendant upon the registering 
 of our names, and bell-boys showing people to their 
 rooms. Nor should we forget the numerous boot- 
 blacks, who acted their part in the scenes about us. 
 To get my supper, and find my room, and hasten 
 toward the land of dreams, was the work of a com- 
 paratively short time, though it seemed hours to one 
 who was so tired as myself; but it was at last accom- 
 plished. 
 
 The next morning I awoke very early, refreshed both 
 in body and in mind with my night's rest. It was too 
 soon, as yet, to arise; and so I lay and watched the 
 dancing sunbeams which, through the blinds of my 
 half-closed windows, shone and played merry pranks 
 upon the opposite walls of the room, while the trees 
 outside, stirred by the light off-shore morning breeze, 
 sent shadowy images of fantastic shape moving, 
 here and there, among them. One immense, dumb- 
 bell-shaped sunbeam amused me greatly in its at- 
 tempts to smash a fine vase upon the mantle near 
 by. It would dash at it with unerring accuracy and 
 terrific impetus, only to stop short, within a few 
 inches of it, and return immediately to its former 
 position, leaving the vase wholly untouched. Above 
 this beamed another, now intensely bright now quite 
 dim; and, farther on, two small, active little fellows 
 played hide and seek behind each other, so that the 
 two became one and the one two again each alternate 
 
14 PENIKESE. 
 
 moment. At length, tired of watching the bright, 
 roguish sunbeams, and animated by a lusty-sounding 
 gong, which seemed to be beaten directly in front of 
 my door, and, consequently, for my express benefit, 
 I sprang from the bed and quickly dressed for break- 
 fast. After the morning's meal I hastened to place 
 my baggage in the hands of the porter whose duty it 
 was to take it on board the little steamer, which was 
 so soon to convey us to our island home, and then 
 started for a stroll about this quiet, quaint, old- 
 fashioned city, there being yet several hours to 
 spare before our departure. 
 
 I will not attempt to describe New Bedford, as I 
 was in it for so short a time; but I wandered along 
 one or two of its principal avenues, admiring the 
 noble dwellings with their rich, handsome lawns, 
 which, like miniature parks, fronted the streets at 
 the farther end of the town, and then, returning, en- 
 tered one of the small, dirty by-streets that led to a 
 neighboring wharf, to which I directed my steps. 
 What a sight here met my gaze. Vessels of all kinds 
 and sizes, from full-rigged ships to perfect swarms 
 of boats and dories, lay about me in every direction. 
 It seemed as if there were thousands of them, though 
 doubtless barely as many hundreds. Two full-rigged 
 men-of-war, which had just arrived from France, as 
 I learned afterwards, anchored some distance in the 
 bay beyond the rest, seemed like monstrous guard- 
 ians of whaling vessels, steamers large and small 
 brigs, barks, and schooners of all sorts and kinds. 
 Vessels, almost new, shone resplendent with recent 
 coats of bright paint above the rest, but most were so 
 old and worn that you could almost have believed 
 them to be veritable "Noah's Arks." I could not 
 but admire several beautiful pleasure yachts that lay 
 at anchor in the bay. I could see them, rolling 
 about from side to side, showing their smooth planks 
 and well made forms, and bending their masts grace- 
 fully i.n the air or dipping their handsome prows far 
 into the waters which surrounded them. How I en- 
 
THE JOURNEY. I 5 
 
 joyed the scene. It seemed to have a fascination for 
 me that was irresistible. 
 
 Then I turned my attentioni.to the wharf itself, 
 which, like most of the others I could see about me, 
 was built far into the water. It was covered with 
 heaps of boards, new and bright, old and dingy, 
 some immense plank, others thin deal, and one very 
 old pile came tumbling down with a noise like thun- 
 der, as I accidentally stumbled over several pieces 
 which extended far beyond the rest; with barrels, ap- 
 parently of oil and tar, whose blue sides and red 
 ends, thickly streaked with an abundance of the same 
 material as that composing their contents, showed 
 up on all sides; and with piles of old iron, ballast- 
 stones and spars and masts of vessels; all of which, 
 with many other things of a like nature, lay scattered 
 everywhere around in endless confusion. 
 
 At the farther end of the wharf were a group of 
 dirty, bare-footed little urchins, who were amusing 
 themselves with all sorts of doings, one could, at 
 first sight, barely distinguish them from the brown, 
 dirty logs or barrels amongst which they played, and 
 whose hands and faces, as well as their clothes, 
 seemed equally bedaubed and grimy. Some of them 
 were playing at marbles, while others, mere lookers 
 on, were lying about in the mud and dirt, like so 
 many flounders off the pier head at low tide, watch- 
 ing the progress of the games. On a low, narrow 
 stairway, leading to the water, sat several youthful 
 fishers, who appeared in high glee over four or five 
 poor little fishes, barely as many inches long, which 
 they had succeeded in catching with the most primi- 
 tive pole, hook, and line imaginable, and only after 
 long and patient waiting, doubtless, upon their part. 
 On the very end corner of the pier, a most wretched- 
 ly dirty, ragged, and diminutive urchin was amusing 
 himself by throwing stones at the numberless small 
 chips of wood which were tossing about upon the 
 rippling waters beneath him, or occasionally "skip- 
 ping" some particularly smooth, flat pebble, which 
 
l6 PENIKESE. 
 
 he "had selected from the loose earth scattered about 
 the pier around him, to the great delight of a still 
 smaller specimen of existence, who jumped about 
 and clapped his hands, as he counted the skips, most 
 gleefully. It was a characteristic scene for such a 
 place, and I watched it all with idle interest whilst 
 waiting for the whistle of the "Helen Augusta" to 
 summon us on board. 
 
 From this scene I wandered about amongst the old 
 whale ships, which, like huge ghosts, reared high in 
 air their whitened spars and exposed their bleaching 
 sides to the hot sun, or lay, in various postures, 
 awaiting, as the case might be, the hands of time or 
 the renorvating touch of busy workmen, while upon 
 some the carpenters were already at their labors. 
 Then I walked up and down the narrow streets close 
 by the wharves; I visited many of the shops and 
 small warehouses; and amused myself in every way 
 possible until, at length, aroused by the shrill scream 
 of the tug-boat, I hastened to the scene of hurry and 
 confusion consequent upon our starting for Penikese. 
 
 On arriving at the wharf, where the tug-boat lay, 
 I found it literally one mass of moving heads and 
 wagon-tops. Everything appeared to be in the 
 wildest disorder and everybody to have lost their 
 senses completely, at least judging from the crazy 
 manner in which people persisted in getting in each 
 others way; nor was the confusion less noticeable on 
 board the steamer, which was small and crowded. 
 There were trunks, hat-boxes, valises, boxes, crates, 
 and baskets; general kitchen-ware, cooking utensils 
 of all sorts, and furniture mixed with Natural History 
 stores and apparatus; all lying tumbled together so 
 promiscuously and occupying so much room, that, 
 in company with several others, I vainly wandered 
 seeking a place of repose and momentary quiet from 
 the human storm which everywhere surrounded me, 
 and was fain almost to envy even the dirty little 
 urchins, whom I had so recently left, their peace and 
 quiet. 
 
THE JOURNEY. I/ 
 
 At length comparative calm reigned, and I found 
 a moment in which to look about me, and to note the 
 forms and faces of those gathered upon the deck and 
 in the waiting-room of our little steamer all of 
 whom were eager for her departure. What a jolly 
 set they were, these strange forms and faces! Old 
 men and young men, elderly ladies and young, fair 
 maidens. A varied group indeed, yet, for all, it 
 looked like an agreeable one. 
 
 When the second whistle sounded, a particularly 
 shrill and startling one it seemed to me, what a scene 
 ensued; what a profusion of hand-shakings and 
 good-byes were given and taken upon every side; 
 slowly the tide of humanity poured down the boat's 
 side and on to the wharf below. And now the steam- 
 er had completed its load. The dull beat of her 
 paddles and her heavy column of black smoke an- 
 nounced that we had left the pier and were on the 
 move. One by one the wagons started leaving the 
 wharf; one by one the scattered groups of people 
 turned from the dock and followed; then, finally, 
 wharf, people, and wagons grew further and further 
 away as, with regular puff and plunge, the little 
 "Helen Augusta" steamed quietly away from the 
 dull, hot city, and out into a clearer atmosphere 
 upon the fair, heaving bosom of the bay. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 AGASSIZ AND PENIKESE. 
 
 Buzzards Bay! What a glorious mingling of land 
 and water! Well worthy its illustrious discoverer, 
 the famous Bartholomew Gosnold. In fact, both our 
 little Penikese, and its larger neighbor, Cutty Hunk, 
 have contended successively for the distinguished 
 title of "Gosnold's Hat." Adown the broad bosom 
 of this bay we glide. The passengers crowd the 
 prow and stern of our small craft, to drink in the de- 
 licious draughts of cool, fresh air, that fan the cheek 
 into fairly blushing at itself as it tells, so plainly to 
 all around, its secret joy at this occasion: and this is 
 the group most of whom are to bear me company, 
 during a willing summer exile, in an enterprise which 
 is to unite professor and pupil, heart to heart and 
 hand in hand; hearts devoted, and hands ever ready, 
 to do the work which the Master shall assign them. 
 
 Our sail to Penikese was a very pleasant one, and 
 now mark our surprise: As we approach the wharf, 
 there stood Professor Agassiz himself, who had thus 
 anticipated our arrival, with beaming face, ready to 
 welcome us; and his warm, enthusiastic shake of the 
 hand, and gentle, winning words, which were ever 
 new and fresh to each one, sent a glad thrill through 
 each heart. How proud he looked. How like the 
 kind, benignant father to us all that he indeed was. 
 
 After the handshakings, he lead the way, up the 
 old lane or cartpath, to the place of meeting. There 
 all seated themselves save Professor Agassiz, he 
 alone remained standing. What a sight! What a 
 
20 PENIKESE. 
 
 scene! Would that some canvas might contain that 
 picture. 
 
 The Hall, or place of meeting, was an old barn 
 still retaining its ancient, barn-like appearance with- 
 out though entirely renovated and somewhat remod- 
 eled within. Great pains had been taken to leave its 
 side and rafters as they had been, and bare, yet per- 
 fectly clean. By a partition, was made a small, 
 square room, at the farther end of which were ranged 
 the chairs in which the pupils and company sat; in 
 front was a long table, extending nearly across the 
 room, around which the more highly honored guests 
 were placed; behind and near the center of the table, 
 stood Professor Agassiz, with head uncovered with 
 the fingers of one hand barely touching the table 
 with their tips, and the other hand within the breast 
 of his coat. In a moment all were silent: 
 
 "Then the Master, 
 With a gesture of command, 
 Waved his hand;" 
 
 and Professor Agassiz addressed us: 
 
 "My friends!" he said, "you know not what a 
 pleasure it is for me to meet you all here today! I 
 have looked forward to this as being a very happy 
 event in my life, and I am not disappointed; but, 
 before proceeding with our business, let. us look to 
 the giver of all our good things in thanksgiving. I 
 know not any of you, therefore cannot feel free to 
 ask of any of you that favor which I otherwise should 
 do. I will ask you all, therefore, to join with me, 
 for a few moments, in silent prayer." Bowed heads 
 and silence responded to the call, as all joined in 
 that solemn occasion, and the waves dashing upon 
 the rocks, seemed like the utterances of those un- 
 spoken words while a thousand white-winged gulls, 
 upon noiseless pinion, filled the air, and seemed like 
 messengers from Heaven, awaiting only to catch the 
 spirit of those words that they might bear them up- 
 ward. 
 
AGASSIZ AND PENIKESE. 21 
 
 After a few moments the professor addressed us. 
 He thanked us all for coming to meet him on that 
 far off, lonely island; and he thanked himself for 
 being able to be present; he thanked the kind giver 
 of the island and its endowment, Mr. Anderson, for 
 himself and for all, that he had been moved to such 
 a generous bestowment of property and happiness to 
 the community; and he thanked the friends there 
 present at its opening for their sympathy with the 
 plans of the trustees for the institution, as well as for 
 their hearty co-operation in furthering those plans: 
 Then he thanked God for his goodness to them all. 
 After this, speeches were made, and many prominent 
 public men took part in the tributes of praise that 
 were bestowed freely upon all interested in the 
 school, whether teachers, pupils, or any that sym- 
 pathized with the grand work thus initiated, and 
 the company broke up, happy and pleased with 
 their first public introduction to Penikese. 
 
 Our first day at the Island, thus it began! It was 
 intensely warm, and the sun shed down its almost 
 vertical rays upon a soil, dry and sandy, with scanty 
 vegetation, though with a liberal supply of rocks and 
 boulders, which were scattered everywhere about the 
 place. Viewed simply in itself, it was a most unat- 
 tractive spot, and at first I could scarcely persuade 
 myself that I should enjoy my stay here, yet for all 
 the unattractiveness of the place, a secret something 
 filled my mind with pleasant thoughts, and I found, 
 even in the rocks and boulders, and the dry, sandy 
 soil, with its occasional patches of green, a solace for 
 all the objectionable features of the situation. We 
 had met together upon this desolate island, a band 
 of brothers, stranger brothers as yet, to be sure, 
 but, although still unacquainted with each other, a 
 common bond of sympathy was drawing us nearer 
 and nearer one to another master and pupil in a 
 friendship that was to last a life time. Thus, at the 
 very beginning, each rock, each grain of sand, each 
 blade of grass even, was invested with an interest 
 
22 PENIKESE. 
 
 which increased daily as the Master's hand directed 
 our attention, and his thoughts our thoughts, to the 
 to us at least hitherto unimagined wonders of the 
 objects lying everywhere about us. Drawn by a 
 common union of mind, sentiment, and purpose, 
 there had met together, from all parts of the United 
 States, two score and ten specialists old and young, 
 men and women teachers to be instructed of teach- 
 ers. All faults and differences were forgotten, if in- 
 deed there were many to forget, by mutual consent, 
 as each worked for the common good of mankind. 
 No wonder that the influence of these persons is felt 
 today everywhere, throughout the length and breadth 
 of the land, as they reflect the light of that wonder- 
 ful man, Louis Jean Rudolph Agassiz.. Love makes 
 even duty a pleasure. One short hour and we loved 
 our instructors and our companions we loved our 
 little sea-girt island, for all its barrenness. We 
 looked upon everything about us with a sort of rev- 
 erence. All had a meaning now. Do you wonder 
 that I remember those days as some of the happiest 
 of my life? But active preparations for dinner are 
 going on, it would amuse you to see them. 
 
 Our first dinner had, for the most part, been pre- 
 pared in New Bedford, and brought over with us in 
 the boat. The room in which we were to dine was 
 almost square; and the doors opened near the centre 
 of one side of the building and next to the partition, 
 which separated the dining-hall from the kitchen. 
 Close to the windows, upon either side, were two 
 long tables running lengthwise of the hall, which 
 were intended for the students; a third table, running 
 crossways and with its ends directly in front of the 
 entrance, was for the use of the professors and their 
 families. There were rough, homely chairs placed 
 evenly and closely to the white table cloth and neatly 
 set tables; the dishes were plain, though not coarse; 
 and the food simple yet healthful. All things seemed 
 exactly fitted to the occasion. Were we inclined to 
 grumble a little, at first, at both our food and our 
 
AGASSIZ AND PENIKESE. 2 3 
 
 accommodations; we who had been accustomed to the 
 best? If so, nobody complains now, when profes- 
 sor and pupils share alike. The Hall was crowded 
 that first day. As soon as one had finished, new 
 plates were laid and ano'ther occupied the place; but 
 our waiters were so well trained, that we scarcely 
 had occasion to remember this as a first meal. Al- 
 though taking some time to accomplish it, our party 
 were at length all well provided for; and the visitors, 
 after having given and taken most hearty and cordial 
 adieus, hastened on board the little steamer once 
 again, and were soon on the way to their respective 
 homes. The school had been advertised to begin 
 upon a certain day. Up to within a few weeks of its 
 commencement, almost nothing had been accomplised 
 saving the transfer of the island from Mr. Anderson 
 to its trustees. The friends of the institution were 
 despondent. The day for the opening arrived, every- 
 thing was ready. The enterprise was a grand suc- 
 cess. 
 
 It was with a strange feeling that I watched the 
 "Helen Augusta" as she left the wharf, and steamed 
 far out into the bay. I had taken my station irr the 
 old fort, upon the highest part of the island, it 
 looked as if it might be centuries old, perhaps built 
 by the famous Bartholomew Gosnold himself, the 
 early discoverer of these regions; and from thence I 
 watched her as she grew farther and farther away, 
 then her hull and smoke stack became fainter and 
 fainter; then a long line of smoke, hanging heavily 
 along the horizen, with a small, dark speck just be- 
 yond it; these, too, soon disappeared. Then, for the 
 first time, I realized that school had begun. 
 
 After considerable delay, our baggage was trans- 
 ferred from the wharf, in the most primitive manner 
 imaginable by a yoke of oxen, and an odd, old- 
 fashioned tip-cart, to the door of the dormitory; 
 then came the rush for claiming property. To have 
 seen the scrambling, one would hardly have believed 
 this to be part and parcel of the quiet orderly, assem- 
 
'24 PENIKESE. 
 
 I 
 
 blyof but a few hours previous. How each box, bag, 
 and trunk found at last its respective owner is a 
 mystery that I will not attempt to explain, yet it 
 was at last accomplished, to the complete satisfac- 
 tion of all parties. 
 
 Our dormitory, though a strange looking affair, 
 was most admirably adopted for the purpose for 
 which it was intended. It was a long, two-storied 
 building, standing, if I remember correctly, northeast 
 by southwest. The upper floor was, as yet, in an 
 unfinished condition, though the carpenters were 
 now busy completing it; the lower room, like the up- 
 per, long and narrow, was divided into two compart- 
 ments, of about equal length, by means of sailcloth 
 suspended from a cord running high up across the 
 room. Of these two apartments that facing the bay 
 was occupied by the ladies, that facing the island, by 
 the gentlemen. The inside arrangements were simi- 
 lar in both. 
 
 The interior of the men's apartment was arranged 
 with a long aisle extending from the door through 
 the centre of the room, upon either side of which 
 were ranged a dozen or more cot beds. At the foot 
 of each bed facing it, with but a narrow passage be- 
 tween, stood a bureau; and a little to one side of its 
 head a small washstand, with its accompanying nec- 
 essary furniture. A chair, and a simple tallow dip 
 and tin candlestick, with a few matches in it, com- 
 pleted each person's outfit. Our trunks were placed 
 behind our bureaus, and our valises anywhere that 
 room could be found for them. 
 
 We were obliged to pass our first night almost in 
 the open air. The window-sashes were without glass, 
 and the cool breeze swept through the long room 
 unrestrained; but it was not uncomfortable, and we 
 did not mind it greatly. It was late in the afternoon 
 before I had unpacked and satisfactorily arranged 
 the books, clothing, shooting and other materials 
 which I had brought with me. When it was at last 
 accomplished,! threw a shawl over my bed, put on my 
 
AGASSIZ AND PENIKESE. 2 5 
 
 slippers, and lay down to rest. I had placed the 
 pillow at the foot of the bed, that I might the better 
 -drink in the delightful air and the broad ocean scene 
 which spread itself, in all its freshness, before me. 
 What a lovely view it indeed was! My eyes rested 
 upon a gently sloping bank of the most delicate, vel- 
 vety green appearing the more beautiful from the 
 scantiness of the surrounding vegetation extending 
 to the sea itself, which rolled long lines of low surges 
 lightly toward it. Further on, dancing billows and 
 light whitecaps played merrily in the sunlight of the 
 departing day. Then the surface of all the water 
 was tinged with the most fascinating shadows from 
 the dark, fleecy clouds above; they changed constant- 
 ly; yet their very changes only made them the more 
 beautiful. In the far distance, sail after sail would 
 appear and disappear as a mere speck of light, visi- 
 ble only by long watching. Now a sail would shine, 
 white and clear, before my very eyes, another and 
 another, farther on; the shadows had hidden them 
 before. There were nineteen of them in all and, in 
 the distance, two large, three-masted schooners. 
 Then a .steamer left a long, dark haze of smoke .upon 
 the sky poking its tall, black stack into sight for a 
 moment only to disappear, like many of the sails,in a 
 long umbre cloud which lay against the horizon. 
 At last satisfied by the scene, and fanned by the deli- 
 cious atmosphere wafted in at my window, laden 
 with that peculiar salt sea air, so intoxicating to a 
 true sea lover, I fell asleep, to dream that I was far 
 out upon the ocean, in a small schooner, and being 
 softly rocked to and fro from the "Nest," high up 
 on the foremast, by the winds and gently rolling waves. 
 I do not know how long I slept, but I awoke with 
 the most delightfully refreshed sensation that one 
 can imagine, and ready for almost anything that 
 should present itself. I will not here enter into a 
 discussion of the question, as to how much sleep the 
 human frame needs, at what times, and for how long 
 a time; for I am a firm believer in the theory, that 
 
26 PENIKESE. 
 
 nature herself will not only inform us as to when we 
 should sleep, but will also determine for us how long 
 we should sleep. So far, at least, my theory has 
 never failed me. And now, after a most refreshing 
 slumber, I awoke and returned once again to the 
 realities of life. 
 
 Upon arising, I found my companions still busy 
 arranging their effects. Though everything seemed 
 in apparently the most endless confusion, with every- 
 body and everything in everybody's way, there was 
 not a person present whose face did not glow with 
 happiness, and the most eager and intense enthus- 
 iasm. Each seemed specially to have -partaken of 
 the spirit of our leader, who was everywhere, en- 
 couraging, aiding, and directing. The workmen were 
 completing their unfinished labors, and he was guid- 
 ing them. What a sight to watch him! He was 
 neither haughty nor reserved, as many who were un- 
 acquainted with him would fain have had us believe; 
 but he mingled freely with all. His genial face, and 
 the sincere, earnest tones of his voice, attracted 
 everybody; while his approval of the work already 
 done, and the directions for the furtherance of his 
 plans, were given as if to equals rather than to ser- 
 vants paid to obey him, nor did I hear a word of 
 complaint spoken against Professor Agassiz for any 
 cause whatever, by anybody, while I was upon the 
 island. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 PENIKESE- AND AGASSIZ. 
 
 Supper time at last, our second, though real- 
 ly our first, meal at Penikese. The cooks had come 
 to the island in the same steamer that we ourselves 
 had arrived in, and were hardly yet fully established 
 in their new quarters, one could hardly expect 
 everything to be perfected at once. It was no easy 
 task, that of opening and arranging boxes, bags, and 
 barrels, and sorting and storing their contents. Then 
 preparing the food for the* table, with the limited 
 supply of culinary articles yet at their disposal, 
 would have taxed the patience of much more angelic 
 individuals than those same "colored brethren" were 
 supposed to be; but the supper, like the dinner, was 
 on time, as was everything that Professor Agassiz 
 superintended. 
 
 There is a trite old Latin adage, that reads, 
 "Fames bene condimentum est," better known as 
 "hunger is the best sauce " and I do not believe that 
 there was one amongst us that night who did not 
 fully enjoy all that had been provided for the occas- 
 ion, notwithstanding the difficulties under which it 
 had been prepared. 
 
 After supper "the school" scattered about the 
 island in every direction, singly or in groups which 
 were all soon lost sight of behind the hillocks and 
 surrounding rocks. As to many the position and 
 general appearance of Penikese may be unfamiliar, I 
 will try to give you a glimpse, though a very imper- 
 
28 PENIKESE. 
 
 feet one, of its location, its surroundings, its beau- 
 ties, and its attractions; yet how I wish that you 
 might have seen it as I saw it, and known it as I 
 knew it. 
 
 Penikese Island is situated almost directly south 
 of New Bedford, though perhaps inclining a few 
 points, as the sailors say, to the westward, and is 
 fourteen miles from land. About three miles south 
 of it lies Cutty Hunk, which was, at the time our 
 school first opened, owned, in part at least, by a New 
 York club, the members of which spent their sum- 
 mers there in fishing, hunting, and in yachting. 
 About the same distance from Penikese, and east of 
 Cutty Hunk, lies Nashawena. It is an immense is- 
 land, and is nearly fourteen times the size of its little 
 near neighbor, our Penikese. Still farther eastward 
 lie Pasque, Naushon, Nonamessett, Uncatina, and 
 the minute Weepecket, ranged, with the exception of 
 the last, one after another, in a crescent, and the last 
 separated by only a narrow strait of water from 
 Wood's Hole, as it is on the maps, though someone 
 has perverted it into Wood's Holl, the extremity of 
 the mainland in this direction. The "old-timers," of 
 New Bedford and its vicinity, arrange the names of 
 these islands in a little verse which, they say, enables 
 them the more easily to remember them. It is as 
 follows: 
 
 "Naushon; Nonamessett, 
 Uncatina, Weepecket; 
 Nashawena, Pesquinese, 
 Cutty Hunk, and Penikese." 
 
 Of course we cannot see all of these islands from 
 our school; for, unless the day is unusually fine, we 
 see very little excepting old ocean, calm and glassy 
 as a mirror, or tossing, tossing, tossing, all the day. 
 Yet the air is always delightful, we have no smother- 
 ing hot days, there are no mosquitoes to keep one 
 within doors of an evening, and, after a steady day's 
 and evening's work perfect rest! 
 
PENIKESE AND AGASSIZ. 29 
 
 Penikese, itself, is an hourglass-shaped little islet, 
 and, in general appearance, though evidently not in 
 size, "Gosnold's Hat" indeed, with all its pokes 
 and crinkles, and just as its owner, having ' grasped 
 it in his hand, had tossed it into the broad, placid 
 bosom of the bay. When I said that it was four- 
 teen miles from land, I should have said, that it was 
 fourteen miles from New Bedford, for it is much 
 nearer the little village of Quansett, directly north- 
 west of it; and when I said that it resembled a hat, I 
 should rather have likened it to two hats placed side 
 by side, the one smaller than the other, the smaller 
 one lying nearest to the mouth of Buzzard Bay, and 
 both running parallel to the shore. Little Gull Is- 
 land is a minute near neighbor. Thus are we 
 situated. 
 
 The beauty and attractions of Penikese Island are 
 not, at first, apparent; yet no lover of nature can 
 look upon green slopes, browned and whitened rocks, 
 plains and hillocks, or the variety in contour upon 
 our sea-girt, rocky island, without seeing in every- 
 thing both beauty and attractions. To us, it is a 
 Morgana's fairy isle, with always something new to 
 engage our attention, and wherein we would willingly 
 remain our hundred years or more, and never grow 
 old. We wander about it. On every crag the 
 sea swallows build their nests, and in every bank the 
 bank swallows dig their holes wherein they lay their 
 eggs and rear their young. The turnstone and the 
 plover linger all day among their dear pebbles, and 
 the sandpiper brings forth its nestlings amidst the 
 sparce vegetation of the sanded beach above. Birds, 
 birds, birds everywhere! The ground, the air, and 
 the waters, abound with them; and the sound of 
 their notes is incessant. The cricket and the grass- 
 hopper sing from their grassy coverts, and all nature 
 smiles. These are some of the beauties and attrac- 
 tions of Penikese. Thus did we, I, all of us, find it 
 on that first night, as we strolled here, there, every- 
 
3<D PENIKESE. 
 
 where, about our little pleasure-garden, until the 
 darkness closed about us and the sea sang of rest. 
 
 Well do I remember that first night's stroll about 
 the island. I was alone. No, not alone, for all 
 Nature was with me, and I communed with her as 
 with a fellow being, ever by my side listening to my 
 youthful fancies, and, sage like, propounding at 
 every step questions which I might never fully an- 
 swer: Questions of the birds of the air or of their 
 nest, eggs, or young, close by; of the plants, lichens, 
 and mosses of the rocks and ground about me; of the 
 very sand, earth, rocks, boulders, and ledges, at my 
 feet; or of the fishes and marine life of great ocean 
 so bounteous, so mysterious before me. There was 
 no need for us to search long for "specimens;" for had 
 our school lasted two years instead of two short months, 
 I fancy that there still would have remained much 
 that was new to have been searched for, nay, to have 
 been found. I would that I could recall all the 
 weird fancies that came to my mind that first night, 
 as I wandered amongst the darkening shadows of 
 those rocky sentinels; as I peered over precipitous 
 crags, or mounted to the top of some rocky height 
 from which to view the fast dimming outlines of the 
 lapping wavelets of the bay; or as, in some cosy 
 corner, I reclined and listened to the murmur of the 
 waves, and peering into the surrounding darkness, 
 tried to distinguish something, where I knew there 
 was nothing, in the vast beyond. Halcyon days, in- 
 deed! Halcyon summer evening, were they! Do 
 you wonder that I look back upon them with 
 pleasure? 
 
 As to our daily work, the routine for one day was 
 much the same as for each successive day that we 
 were upon the island, and we soon learned about 
 what to expect. There was the breakfast horn, the 
 breakfast, and the lectures, which all or part might 
 attend, occupying that part of the forenoon not de- 
 voted to exploring, collecting, or dissecting; and then 
 dinner time. After dinner a similar routine occupied 
 
PENIKESE AND AGASSIZ. 3! 
 
 the afternoon until tea time. Sometimes we had a 
 lecture after dark, while we often dissected by candle 
 light. Thus we were never idle, always busy, al- 
 ways learning! How softly and how pleasantly the 
 time passed; and far into the night we remained re- 
 writing our daily notes. 
 
 Professor Agassiz's own method of work was pe- 
 culiar, and differed from that of any of the other 
 professors, though many of them imitated him as 
 closely as they were able. He never assumed super- 
 iority over his pupils; never attempted to annihilate 
 them with his wisdom; but yet, being superior, he 
 took the place of a brother as well as that of a 
 teacher. As brother and teacher he was a living il- 
 lustration of the truth of mottoes which, from time 
 to time, he tried to impress upon his pupils. "If you 
 wish to learn," he would say, " there must be no 
 question of dicipline in the class room," and unruly 
 members were dismissed at once and without mercy. 
 And, again, "Never be afraid to say 'I do not know.' " 
 He would give us an object, and oblige us to study 
 that object alone for days, until we had ascertained 
 the simple and yet plainly evident principals of clas- 
 sification involved in its form and proportions. 
 Rarely would he tell us anything about any specimen 
 which he had given us to examine; but would ques- 
 tion us day by day until we had told him the history 
 of the species, as we were able to discover it; or un- 
 til we were obliged, from the mere fact of finding 
 nothing else to say, to give him the very answer for 
 which he had originally given us the specimen. Un- 
 til we gave him this answer, we were subject to the 
 closest and most continued scrutiny; whether the 
 time were hours or days, made no difference to him. 
 I once discovered, amongst the remnants of sand and 
 debris in my collecting net, a most curiously speckled, 
 shell-like or seed-like object, which, seeing Professor 
 Agassiz near, I hastened to show him. In the eager- 
 ness of the moment I asked him what it was. He 
 looked at it intently for an instant. His face became 
 
32 PENIKESE. 
 
 long, then wore an anxious expression, as he took 
 from his pocket a small lense and hastily began to 
 examine the object with the utmost care. Gradually 
 a smile spread over his features, then he fairly laugh- 
 ed as he closed the lense and replaced it in his pock- 
 et, and handed me back the specimen with the re- 
 mark, "I will give you three weeks, Mr. , in 
 which to find out what it is." He then proceeded 
 with his own business as if nothing had happened. 
 The following afternoon I accidently discovered that 
 my specimen was the cornea of a crab's eye, which 
 had accidently become detached from some speci- 
 men I had captured, and which had remained in the 
 bottom of the net after its owner had been removed*. 
 "That man' could get more out of me in three week's 
 time, than anybody else I was ever under in three 
 years," was the remark of one of his pupils to me. 
 Why! For in seeking one point, he forced from you 
 one hundred that you had not even suspected as ex- 
 isting before you began your search for it, all follow- 
 ing each other as a natural sequence. He was a 
 wonderful man, with a wonderful receptivity and ex- 
 tensive memory, and a wonderful capacity for teach- 
 ing others; but words fail me in endeavoring to render 
 a just estimate of his character. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL. 
 
 I have now introduced you to Penikese. Before 
 unfolding the plan of our work there, bear with me a 
 little, while I go back and rehearse somewhat of the 
 history of the school thereon, since it is very prop- 
 erly a part of our little volume. 
 
 Before starting for Penikese Island, we had each of 
 us received a variety of letters and circulars, both 
 printed and written, relating to and descriptive of the 
 manner in which the school was to be conducted, and 
 the line of study to be pursued there. From the na- 
 ture of the case, I judge that all of the scholars re- 
 ceived similar information. I do not possess all of 
 these valuable papers, I only wish that I did, but 
 those which I have, embrace the most important ones 
 and are fully sufficient for our present purpose. We 
 will open the package and select those which seem 
 most clearly to convey to us a knowledge of the in- 
 tentions of the founders, and of Professor Agassiz, 
 regarding both the school and its pupils. 
 
 The first letter, in order of time, appears to bear 
 the stamp of Professor Agassiz's personal dictation 
 and so I will quote it entirely: 
 
 CAMBRIDGE, MASS., 
 
 May 18, 1873. 
 Dear Madam:* 
 
 Applications for admission to the Anderson School 
 of Natural History are pouring in at an embarrassing 
 
34 PENIKESE. 
 
 rate. Among the latest applications there are some 
 which seem to me to have higher claims than pre- 
 ceding ones. I therefore appeal to all who have al- 
 ready been admitted to state again how important it 
 may be for themselves, or for the cause of education 
 in general, that their individual case should be recog- 
 nized, as fifty persons only can be accommodated in 
 the laboratories of Penikese. To some, admission 
 next year may perhaps be quite as useful as this year. 
 Any failure to answer this request within a fortnight 
 will be considered as a resignation. 
 
 The above is Professor Agassiz's autograph. The 
 circular to which it is appended was a written one, 
 and was, I believe, the very first that was sent to the 
 successful candidates. The letter of acceptance 
 being (at least my own was), a personal one from 
 the professor himself, such at least is my present im- 
 pression. You may be quite sure that there was no 
 "resignation" recorded to my name, and I answered 
 the communication with so much dispatch, and withal 
 so appealingly, that the return mail brought me 
 another from Professor Agassiz himself, short and to 
 the point, telling me to have no fear for or doubt of 
 my acceptance as a scholar of the school at Penikese, 
 
 * This letter was addressed to a young man whose Christian name 
 -was so similar to a name often applied to a lady that the applicant was 
 supposed to be such. 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL. 35 
 
 "even though another questioning circular should 
 reach you shortly." 
 
 During the early part of the winter of 1872, Prof- 
 essor Agassiz had contemplated opening a school, of 
 similar character to that which Penikese proved to be, 
 on the Island of Nantucket or some point upon the 
 mainland, perhaps at Wood's Hole. He had even 
 printed a circular which advertised a "Course of In- 
 struction in Natural History, to be delivered by the 
 seaside, in Nantucket, during the summer months, 
 chiefly designed for teachers who propose to intro- 
 duce the Study into their Schools, and for Students 
 preparing to become Teachers." He had selected 
 his corps of instructors and lecturers, and assigned 
 them the branches which he wished them and which 
 he saw they were most fitted to teach: It contained 
 the names of N. S. SHALER, COUNT L. F. de POUR- 
 TALES, DR. H. A. HAGEN, A. S. PACKARD, F. W. 
 PUTNAM, J. A. ALLEN, SPENCER F. BAIRD, THEODORE 
 LYMAN and many others. By the donation of Mr. 
 Anderson, the location of the school was now defin- 
 itely settled; and the work pushed forward with the 
 greatest vigor. It ^vas this same advertisement, in 
 substance, that was sent to the pupils and friends of 
 Penikese. 
 
 The work of preparing Penikese for the school to 
 be held there, was commenced on the 2Oth of April, 
 at which time a site for the buildings was selected 
 and a general plan of operations arranged. In show- 
 ing the dispatch with which Professor Agassiz con- 
 summated this as in fact he did all of his plans 
 his grand, culminating life work, a few words from 
 one of his reports says: "The plans were at once 
 completed, and by the i6th of May the contract was 
 made for the building. On the 28th of May the 
 timber arrived from Maine in New Bedford. There 
 the building was framed. On the 5th of June the 
 first cargo reached Penikese, and the first building 
 was raised on the i/j-th of June." We have seen, in 
 a previous chapter, how the school began upon the 
 
36 PENIKESE. 
 
 day on which it was advertised to begin., July 8. Incred- 
 ible dispatch! Provident accomplishment! 
 
 The same day that the timber for the buildings 
 reached New Bedford, the following circular was is- 
 sued: 
 
 "MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY, 
 
 "Cambridge, Mass., May 28, 1873. 
 
 "MY DEARM 
 
 "In attempting to organize a School of Natural 
 History upon an entirely new plan, I assume a grave 
 responsibility which must, in a measure, be shared by 
 those who may seek instruction there. To avoid dis- 
 appointment, I feel it my duty to say what I propose 
 to do, that those who may not like my course should 
 be able in time to give up their intention of placing 
 themselves under my direction. It is proper, also, to 
 add, that the applications for admission are very nu- 
 merous, and exceed so much the accommodations of 
 the place as to embarrass me greatly. I must make 
 hard work a condition of a continuous connection 
 with the School, and I desire particularly to impress 
 it upon the applicants for admission, that Penikese 
 Island is not to be regarded as a place of summer re- 
 sort for relaxation. I do not propose to give much 
 instruction in matters which may be learned in books; 
 nor do I wish books to be read during the summer 
 session of the School on Penikese Island. I want, on 
 the contrary, to prepare those who shall attend to ob- 
 serve for themselves, that they may hereafter be able to 
 make the most of their opportunities for study in na- 
 ture, in whatever part of the country they may reside, 
 as there are hardly two adjoining school-districts in 
 which the same objects may be collected for examina- 
 tion. 
 
 "It will no doubt appear, to many, a \vearisome 
 process to sit for hours before a specimen without 
 any but a very general direction what to do with it. 
 I would, therefore, advise all those who wish only to 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL. 37 
 
 be taught Natural History in the way in which it is 
 generally taught, by recitations, to give up their in- 
 tention of joining the Anderson School. 
 
 "My plan will further imply the obligation, on the 
 part of all present, of making special collections to 
 carry home and use as a basis for the teaching others, 
 in the same way, I propose to teach myself, with the 
 assistance of many of my scientific friends. 
 
 "My object in adopting this course is, not only to 
 give what I consider to be the best instructions, but 
 also to show how teaching should be conducted by 
 competent teachers. 
 
 "I wish it were possible for me to state at this ear- 
 ly day what the expenses for board are liable to be 
 for the season. As there is no public house upon the 
 Island, everything must be provided for by private 
 arrangement. I can only say that it will be furnished 
 at cost, at the most economic rate; and that no tuition 
 fee is to be charged. 
 
 "The course will probably open in the first days of 
 July. 
 
 "Yours Very Truly, 
 
 L. AGASSIZ. 
 
 "Should you be prevented from attending please 
 inform me early, as there are many who wait anxious- 
 ly to fill vacancies. L. A." 
 
 This was, doubtless, the "questioning circular" be- 
 fore referred to, and, after receiving it, I was in a 
 continual state of nervous excitement. Fears that 
 the School would begin without my receiving further 
 notification of it, of a thousand different things, pos- 
 sessed me; but I occupied the time as fully and as 
 profitably as I was able, and gave old bachelor tea 
 and coffee parties, in my room, daily and nightly, to 
 all my old chums and their friends, as often as 
 they came to call upon me, in prospect of a 
 speedy departure. It was not until nearly a month's 
 time had elapsed, that I heard again from Penikese; 
 but, when I did, it was in the shape of a final circular 
 
38 PENIKESE. 
 
 which gave all necessary information relating to the 
 subject. It read as follows: 
 
 " ANDERSON SCHOOL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 "Cambridge, Mass., June 26, 1873. 
 "M 
 
 "I have at last decided to open the Anderson 
 School of Natural History, on Penikese Island, at 12 
 o'clock, on the 8th of July next. The place is four- 
 teen miles distant from New Bedford, Mass., and the 
 city is easily accessible by railroad from Boston or 
 from Providence, R. I. Persons coming to join the 
 School from a distance would do well to arrange their 
 journey so that they may reach New Bedford Monday 
 evening, the yih of July. This place affords good 
 accommodations at the Parker House, where infor- 
 mation concerning the boat to the island may be had. 
 A few miles to the east of New Bedford is a watering 
 place, Mattapoisett, where those reaching this vicini- 
 ty a few days in advance may pass some time pleas- 
 antly. 
 
 "It is necessary that all should remember that Pen- 
 ikese Island affords no accommodation for strangers, 
 and that therefore nobody can be invited to visit the 
 Island during the session of the School. I have pro- 
 vided rooms and board for all, but made no allowance 
 for supernumeraries. As it is, I am not yet able to say 
 what the expenses will be. All the arrangements 
 have been made upon the most economical plan. 
 The dormitories have been built at the expense of 
 the School, and no rent will be charged, beyond a 
 percentage on the bedroom furniture. The board 
 will be charged at cost. A caterer has been engaged 
 who will provide for the table and keep the rooms in 
 order, superintend the washing, etc., and the expense 
 thus incurred will determine the charges. 
 
 "It has already been stated that the instruction 
 will be free. Aquariums have been provided which 
 will take the place of books; and cans and other nee- 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL. 39 
 
 essaries for the preservation of specimens will be 'or- 
 dered, and may be bought at cost. The preparation 
 for these collections will not lead to any considerable 
 expenditure, and is optional. 
 
 "Very truly yours. 
 
 "L. AGASSIZ. 
 
 "P. S. Should you be prevented from coming, 
 give me early notice as there are many waiting for a 
 vacancy." 
 
 I regret, very much, that I am unable to discover 
 among my papers the circular containing the course 
 of instruction, and the names of the instructors, as 
 laid out for this first year of the Penikese Island 
 School. It would be both valuable and interesting. 
 I prefer giving such papers entire, when possible; but 
 as in this case it is impossible, I will describe to you 
 briefly our course. 
 
 The programme for Penikese (or "Pune, " as it is 
 sometimes called) hardly differed from that which had 
 been previously prepared for the Nantucket School. 
 The former certainly possessed many advantages over 
 the latter, yet the main purpose and aim of the 
 "course" remained unchanged. 
 
 Throughout the Summer we had daily lectures from 
 Professor Agassiz upon Natural History, and upon 
 Geology; and his talks on the glaciers and the glacial 
 theory, of which he may now justly be called the 
 father, were full and very interesting. 
 
 Then a generous citizen of Boston donated to the 
 School a fine yacht, for sailing and for dredging pur- 
 poses, and the "Sprite," under the direction of that 
 able Naturalist and seaman, Count Pourtales, carried 
 dredging parties almost daily, or as often as the weather 
 would allow, throughout the season. What material 
 was thus presented for study! What splendid collec- 
 tions we made! How hard we worked to please Pro- 
 fessor Agassiz! 
 
 Our lectures, the more important ones at least, were 
 given in the early morning and in the latter part of the 
 day. 
 
4O PENIKESE. 
 
 Our dredging was carried on between times, so that, 
 during the heat of the day, we were upon the water. 
 Upon our return, Professor Packard would tell us 
 about the crustaceous animals and the insects that 
 we had captured; Professor Morse would take up the 
 subject of the shells and molluscous animals pro- 
 cured; were there specimens to be examined through 
 the microscope, Professor Bicknell's time was occup- 
 ied, day and night. Then Professor Jordan describ- 
 ed to us marine algology; Guyot, physical geography; 
 Brewer, ornithology and oology; Hawkins, extinct 
 mammalians; and Mr. Roetter taught us to draw 
 them all. Then a dozen other gentlemen talked to 
 us upon a dozen other subjects, so that our note 
 books and our heads, I might well say our hearts too, 
 were full ! full ! full of animals and the animal king- 
 dom and Professor Agassiz, who knew all that there 
 was to know about them both. Well do we now 
 look back upon Penikese as the leading scientific 
 school ever, before or since, in existence. Many be- 
 lieve that it will never be excelled in its character, or 
 in the ability of its corps of instructors. This may 
 be going far, yet it is as certain that its stimulus 
 and influence will be felt in scientific education for 
 years, it may be for centuries to come. 
 
 Professor Agassiz had expressed the wish, that the 
 school at Penikese should be "associated with the 
 Museum of Comparative Zoology in such a way as to 
 share at once and forever in any advantages to be de- 
 rived from an institution so kindred in its objects and 
 aims." He thought, and perhaps very wisely and 
 truly, that "the two establishments," could "work to- 
 gether to the greatest advantage of both." The lat- 
 ter institution is today a monument alive to fame, 
 the fame of one man. A man whose chief aim and 
 accomplishment was to work and to teach others to 
 work. In his instruction he says: "I must make 
 hard work a condition of a continued connection with 
 the school." The nature of this "hard work" was 
 "to prepare those who shall attend to observe for 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL. 41 
 
 themselves." More fully, it was, "to study nature." 
 He says: "We should make nature our text-book;"and 
 finally, disparaging text-books as generally mere 
 compilations of useless and untrue materials, he as- 
 serts, again and again, that "we invariably return to 
 the study of the things themselves, whenever we 
 wish to make any real progress." Nobly did he prac- 
 tice his own teachings. 
 
 Athough the name of Agassiz will be handed down 
 in history as the leader in scientific thought in the 
 nineteenth century, it is yet certain that the Master 
 of Penikese was neither afraid nor ashamed to ac- 
 knowledge that to another was due the idea of estab- 
 lishing a school, after the manner in which his own 
 classes were taught, but on a larger scale. In a let- 
 ter to Mr. Anderson he says: "I have long cherish- 
 ed the thought of a summer school like the one pro- 
 posed, and I have at various times in my life tried it 
 with small classes, and for a few days or weeks at a 
 time. The idea of establishing one at Nantucket, on 
 a larger scale, was suggested by a young friend, Pro- 
 fessor N. S. Shaler, who had a special taste for and 
 no little experience in this kind of teaching;" but gen- 
 erosity was a failing with Professor Agassiz. He 
 showed it again in relation to the name of the propos- 
 ed school, when he wrote to Mr. Anderson: "As to 
 its name, I hope you will allow the school to be nam- 
 ed for you;" and, "my name it cannot bear with any 
 propriety;" and still again, "To name it after you is, 
 therefore, the simple and appropriate way of settling 
 the question." Mr. Anderson, with equal generosity 
 wrote: "I learn from Mr. Girod that you have ex- 
 pressed a wish to mark your appreciation of my gift 
 of Penikese, for the purpose of the institution, by 
 naming the latter after me. I feel necessarily deep- 
 ly flattered by this offer, and can only say in refer- 
 ence to it that I leave that part of the question entire- 
 ly in your hands, simply suggesting whether an insti- 
 tution, the initiation of which has been wholly the 
 result of your own industry, and which must depend 
 
42 PENIKESE. 
 
 for success mainly on your own labors, should not 
 more aptly receive its designation from a name which 
 has become almost a household word wherever sci- 
 ence is known and appreciated, that of Louis Agas- 
 siz. " Thus in a^contest of generosity will two names 
 be handed to posterity. 
 
 Let me here say a few words, and a few words 
 only, of the donor of Penikese Island: Mr. John An- 
 derson of New York, who generously gave the island 
 for the school, and seconded his gift by a donation of 
 fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) for its erection and 
 maintenance. This school, it will be -remembered, 
 has been styled both "The Agassiz School of Natural 
 History at Penikese" and "The Anderson School of 
 Natural History at Penikese." The former, from its 
 founder; and the latter, from its donor; but there 
 seems to me no necessity for either injustice or con- 
 fusion in the matter, whichever of these titles are 
 made use of, provided it be borne in mind that the 
 Anderson School was simply a financial and substan- 
 tial realization, upon a larger scale, of the Agassiz 
 School of Nautucket. In the winter previous to the 
 opening of Penikese the Agassiz School had been 
 conceived, arranged for, and advertised, from the 
 Museum of Comparative Zoology, at Cambridge, 
 Mass., (December, 14 1872) as a "Course of Instruc- 
 tion in Natural History to be delivered by the seaside, 
 in Nantucket, during the Summer Months, chiefly de- 
 signed for Teachers who propose to introduce the 
 Study into their Schools, and for Students preparing 
 to become Teachers." No fair minded person will, 
 then, for an instant, regard it as an injustice to either 
 of the noble men to recognize the school by either or 
 both of these titles; for it comprised both. I regard 
 Mr. Anderson's motive in making the whole donation 
 as purely and wholly philanthropic. A simple, short 
 paragraph, clipped some years later, from a news- 
 paper, whose date even is unknown to me, reads: 
 "Mr. John Anderson, the founder of the Agassiz 
 College, at Penikese Island, died at Paris, France, 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL. 43 
 
 on Thursday, aged 69 years." Alas that, as I write, 
 Anderson, Agassiz, and Penikese, exist save as a 
 memory yet, as such, they will last, with me at 
 least, forever and again forever\ 
 
 As in the establishment of Penikese was recognized 
 a new departure in scientific education, to provide 
 for its future, and that the public might at once fully 
 understand its proposed scope, Professor Agassiz 
 advertised: 
 
 "The applications for admission to the ANDERSON 
 SCHOOL OF NATURAL HISTORY are so numerous that it 
 has been decided that the successful pupils of a pre- 
 ceeding year should have the first claim to admission 
 the following season; next, the principals and pro- 
 fessors of colleges and of high and normal schools; 
 next, teachers in other public institutions; and, finally, 
 teachers in private schools. Beginners cannot be ad- 
 mitted until after the applications of these several 
 classes of pupils have been met. You are therefore 
 requested to send me your claims to admission, be- 
 fore an answer to your application can be given. 
 
 Respectfully Yours, 
 
 L. AGASSIZ." 
 
 But a second year with Professor Agassiz was a 
 happiness too great for mortal realization, so he was 
 taken from us "not lost, but gone before;" we can 
 only follow in his footsteps and search after him. We 
 will follow Nature to her beginning, but we will find 
 him again. The same patient, loving father, friend, 
 and brother, shall again clasp our hand and direct 
 our steps from Nature to Nature's God. 
 
 The second year, and the last, of Penikese, was 
 conducted by Professor Alexander Agassiz, Professor 
 Agassiz's son who, after the death of his father, as- 
 sumed the responsibilities which the latter had left. 
 This term was conducted on very nearly the same 
 principle as the first had been. The "course" re- 
 mained unchanged, in the main, and nearly all the 
 old instructors and pupils returned. How hard we 
 
44 PENIKESE. 
 
 all worked! It was a delightful summer! Had we 
 never attended Penikese the previous year, it would 
 have seemed perfect. But we mourned for our Mast- 
 er. We longed for his genial face and kindly voice. 
 To one, at least, the second term of Penikese was but 
 the skeleton remaining in the closet of the first term. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 LECTURES: MORSE, PUTNAM, PACKARD. 
 
 We are now at length settled quietly to work lor 
 the summer at Penikese. The bustle and excitement 
 and arrangement in detail of the work of the first few 
 days of our season are over, and we cheerfully "bend 
 to the oar," of routine which is not routine, and of 
 hard work which is truly a pleasure. Our time is all 
 occupied: When we are not attending lectures, or 
 out dredging, or otherwise collecting specimens, we 
 are in our laboratories dissecting specimens, using 
 our microscopes, observing the animals and plants 
 which we have collected, and which are lying around 
 everywhere in pails and pans of water, or in copying 
 out our lectures. Our table is covered with knives, 
 scissors, forceps, hooks for holding back the sur- 
 rounding membranes from those upon which we are 
 at work, and various other utensils. There are bot- 
 tles of alcohol, sea-water, glycerine, and other pre- 
 serving fluids some with specimens in them and some 
 without; there a large tin tray, about eighteen inches 
 long and a dozen wide, half full of alcohol and water, 
 in which are the remains of a skate-fish with the 
 brains exposed, which we are dissecting with a view 
 to showing the five pairs of nerves aud their sur- 
 roundings exactly as they exist in nature, and with 
 the outer membranes and flesh held back by pins, 
 which are inserted into the wax in the bottom of the 
 tray; and several birds, which had recently been shot, 
 
46 PENIKESE. 
 
 were lying upon the table ready to be skinned and 
 mounted or dissected and bottled as were our other 
 anatomical specimens. 
 
 Then we go -to our lecture room and take notes 
 from our Professors as they talk to us. Well do I 
 remember how hard Professor Morse labored to im- 
 part to us some knowledge of the Molluscous kingdom, 
 or the so-called shell-fish. He told us of their position 
 in the- animal kingdom, of how they were grouped 
 among themselves, of the internal structure of each 
 group, andof the life histories of many of the indi- 
 vidual species. . Under his direction, we dissected 
 many of the larger sea molluscs, which we captured 
 in our nets and on the beach at low tide, and found 
 it a most pleasing occupation, to follow out the va- 
 rious systems which they exhibited, and to compare 
 them with those in both the higher and lower groups. 
 
 I remember that one of his lectures was devoted to 
 the Snails. In it he told us of this great group, 
 how that they were called by naturalists the Pulmo- 
 nata from the Latin pulmo, a lung; and/m?, I bear 
 signifying; that which they in truth are, the lung- 
 bearing mollusks. Then he explained to us the three 
 great groups into which they were divided. How 
 well I remember those terrible names for I learned 
 them by heart, so that I could repeat them and their 
 meanings over and over again the Geophila, from 
 two Greek words which mean earth and loving, re- 
 fering to their terrestrial habits; the Limnophila, also 
 from two Greek words which mean lake or pond [fresh 
 water] and loving, owing to the fact that while the 
 former live on the land the latter prefer the shores 
 and mud-flats of, and mud in, fresh water pools, 
 ponds, and lakes; and the Thalassophila, or those 
 which love or live in the Greek thalassa or the sea, 
 these being marine. His remarks were confined 
 mostly to the first two groups, more especially to the 
 land snails. He told us: how they lived under rocks, 
 stones, boards, the trunks of fallen trees and beneath 
 their bark, and even amongst the decayed leaves of 
 
LECTURES. 47 
 
 the ground; how they crawl from their places of con- 
 cealment and sun themselves, on warm spring days; 
 that there were no distinctions of sex amongst them 
 both genders being combined within each animal; 
 and that a little after the early spring they begin to 
 lay their eggs, in large numbers, bunched together, 
 and sticking to each other by a mucilaginous sub- 
 stance that also held the bunches to the boards, 
 stones, bark, or leaves under which they were laid; 
 snails' eggs are opaque and white, being longer than 
 broad. 
 
 Then we learned that, if the weather were not too 
 damp, the young animals, with complete, though at 
 first small,shell, appeared in the gelatinous substance 
 surrounding them, in a very few days after the eggs 
 were laid, though it generally took nearly a month 
 for them to become fully hatched; that warm weather 
 hastened the hatching process, though the eggs were 
 seldom if ever laid in the snn; that the young hatched 
 themselves, by eating the shell of the egg which in- 
 closed them; that their growth was a rapid one; and 
 that they fed upon vegetable food. 
 
 Here the Profeesor stopped to describe the teeth 
 and tongue of snails, and to draw innumerable dia- 
 grams of these organs, representative of the different 
 groups, families, and genera of this portion of the 
 molluscous kingdom. In continuing, he said, that 
 there were several species, however, which preferred 
 animal food, one variety even feeding upon the 
 earth worms while another eat its own eggs. At 
 about the first frost snails hibernate, or in some snug 
 retreat, like that in which it has lived during the 
 summer, goes into regular "winter quarters;" it retires 
 further and further within its shell, forming mucous 
 membrane after mucous membrane as it goes, until 
 there are five to eight or more perhaps; the functions 
 of the body move slower and slower, until they at 
 length wholly cease; and that American species, as a 
 rule, are less gregarious than those of other regions. 
 Some species, he said, had no shell or other hard cov- 
 
48 PENIKESE. 
 
 ering whatever, and were then called slugs; that these 
 were nocturnal in their habits, and committed exten- 
 sive injury to gardens, which they are fond of inhabit- 
 ing; that slugs do not hibernate, though they become 
 torpid. 
 
 This, however, formed but a small portion of a 
 single lecture: yet is there not here, even, abundance 
 of food for thought and incentive to search still furth- 
 er into the mysteries of Nature? 
 
 Professor Morse is, evidently, an ardent evolution- 
 ist; yet in spite of his natural inclination to protract 
 his lectures into some abstruse features of evolution, 
 or of Darwinianism, there is always much valuable in- 
 formation in them that is carefully noted and remem- 
 bered by every person present. Sometimes he tells 
 us about that most wonderfully curious appendage of 
 the bivalves or lamellibranchs, the crystalline style, 
 and of how it has no attachment to the body, this 
 leads to an investigation, and our discoveries are 
 marvelous. 
 
 One of his talks is devoted to pearls, and we learn 
 that pearls are formed by the retention by the mantle 
 of foreign particles, the irritation of which causes a 
 pouring out of the secretions of its body substances 
 thus pearls grow. But while we are jotting this down, 
 we hear the equally surprising fact that, though with 
 the majority of shells both sexes are combined in the 
 same animal, with the Unios, or fresh-water bivalve 
 shells, the sexes are distinct and comprised in differ- 
 ent individuals; but he failed to tell us how gener- 
 ally, or in what special families, this bisexual arrang- 
 ment exists throughout the molluscous kingdom 
 this, then, would be a capital point for investigation 
 for some enthusiastic naturalist or specialist in this 
 department, for I do not believe that it has e^er been 
 fully or accurately determined. 
 
 At still another time we learn that the shell itself 
 does not obtain its color from the color of the food 
 which the animal eats, as many formerly supposed. 
 Of many samples given, the Professor laid particular 
 
LECTURES. 49 
 
 emphasis upon that of the munera, which eat green 
 food and yet had a red shell. It is with such inform- 
 ation as has been given above that we fill our note 
 books and our heads, we cannot take down all that 
 he tells us, much as we would like to do so; there 
 might be a few favored individuals present to whom 
 the mysteries of shorthand or takegraphy would re- 
 ward their possessors with all the words and ideas of 
 our Professor; but we, an editorial we, applying to 
 nearly everyone of us in the room, are not so far ad- 
 vanced in this peculiar branch of education but that 
 our notes embrace but a small part of the hour's dis- 
 course, no matter how diligently we may struggle 
 with pen and pencil and abbreviated English. You 
 will doubtless smile as you read a page of my origin- 
 al notes corrected simply as to its language: 
 
 "There is no muscular movement in the opening 
 of the valves of a bivalve shell, but simply in its 
 closing; in the one case the ligaments, contracting, 
 push the shell open, in the other it pulls it from the 
 inside. Lines of growth upon a shell indicate its 
 age. The muscles of the margin of a bivalve shell 
 are to enable the animal to draw in its mantle. To 
 preserve molluscs, first kill the animals by immersing 
 salt-water species in fresh water and vice versa, and 
 then place in alcohol. In dissecting such animals, 
 dissect under water, or water in which a small quan- 
 tity only of alcohol has been put; if intervals occur 
 during the work, replace the specimen in alcohol. 
 What is ciliary motion? Ciliary motion ten foot 
 square would exert a force equal to ten tons. It is 
 ciliary motion that induces a current, and brings the 
 food within reach of the palpi (or small feelers, as 
 they are sometimes called), which act freely at a 
 short distance only from the mouth; these feelers se- 
 cure the food, mould it into pellets, and convey it to 
 the mouth." 
 
 At this point, in one of our lectures, sometime yet 
 before the close of the hour, one of the men brought 
 in a huge skate fish and lay it upon our table. All 
 
50 PENIKESE. 
 
 exercises were postponed, in perfect good nature, 
 while Professor Putnam explained to us the differ- 
 ence between it and an immense sand-shark, over 
 which one of the scholars was just then working. He 
 told us, that the sharp tubercles of the skate were 
 identical with the small, rough ones of the shark;that 
 the skate was higher in its position in the class than 
 the shark, as its embryo passes through the form of a 
 shark before becoming an adult skate; that if one 
 were to flatten a shark they would obtain the general 
 appearance, in form, of the skate; a fish having spir- 
 acles, indicates that it lives near the bottom of the 
 water; that neither the shark nor the skate possessed 
 scales, and were, therefore, of a different order from 
 that of the majority of fishes; and that the character 
 and structure of the scales of fishes determined, to a 
 large extent, the relative position not only of whole 
 groups of fishes but even of many individuals in each 
 group. 
 
 Later, in the same day, Professor Packard added 
 largely to our stock of information. Many of us had 
 sought to study up the subject of Animalculae, in fact 
 all of us were more or less interested in it; and forth- 
 with, jars, bottles, and dishes of various sorts were 
 filled with water, and large quantities of the very best 
 material that could be obtained, for breeding and 
 keeping them. Our hitherto rusty microscopes now 
 fairly gleamed, in expectation of the marvels soon to 
 be laid open, through them, to our wondering gaze. 
 Professor Packard knew all about such things. He 
 told us to "search in fresh water, rain water, water 
 abounding in mosses, and marine pools, for our sub- 
 jects of study and investigation." Somebody brought 
 in to us specimens of worms and small parasitic crus- 
 taceans, and of where and how to find others and 
 how to preserve them, he told us: "You will find 
 them in dissecting fishes and reptiles, in nearly every 
 portion of the body and in the viscera; tape and sun- 
 dry specimens of minute worms and flukes are found 
 in the body. Place them at first in weak and then 
 
LECTURES. 51 
 
 transfer them to strong alcohol. A species of round 
 worm inhabits the flesh and muscles of certain fishes. 
 With the more common species of salt water worms r 
 allow them first to die in fresh water, and then pre- 
 serve like the others. One species floats upon the 
 surface of the ocean, when it is calm. The best 
 time to collect such specimens is from sunset to nine 
 or ten o'clock at night," etc. But it is quite impos- 
 sible to put upon paper all the notes which we col- 
 lect for our note books; yet we hunt everywhere, 
 we fill bottles and jars, and our tables, shelves, and 
 the floor, even, is filled with them: specimens, speci- 
 mens, specimens, EVERYWHERE. Our professors lec- 
 ture to us of nothing else; our time is spent in secur- 
 ing and dissecting them, yet the more we learn the 
 more there seems to be to learn about them. 
 
 LECTURES: AGASSIZ. 
 
 It is from such sketches of our lectures as those 
 just given, that the reader will obtain a glimpse, faint 
 and .imperfect though it may be, of a single day's, do- 
 ings at Penikese. The crumbs that have been garnered 
 thus for your benefit would form but a part, and a 
 small part at that, of a single day's work. On an av- 
 erage, four lectures a day and often a fifth in the eve- 
 ning, besides laboratory and field work, form our 
 regular daily task; then we write our notes out in the 
 evening. Do you wonder where our time for rest 
 comes in? We have none our work is rest; and yet 
 there is not one of us who does not enter into all this 
 willingly. A certain President of Amherst College 
 once asked the late Professor Charles U. Shepard, 
 the well-known mineralogist, what he considered the 
 "three most important elements of success to the 
 young man during his college course." The Profess- 
 or replied, without an instant's hesitation, "the first 
 is work!" Then with a pause of several moments, 
 he continued, "and the second is WORK!" and again 
 
52 PENIKESE. 
 
 pausing, as if to impress his hearer with its impor- 
 tance, "and the third," here a much longer pause 
 than any of the others even, "is WORK!" and he 
 emphasized the word with all his power. Whether 
 borrowed or not, the phrase contained then, as it 
 does now, the only solution to the question. This is 
 what we did at Penikese Island. 
 
 The lectures of Professor Agassiz are so individu- 
 alized in character that they may very properly form 
 a distinctive feature of this little sketch of our school. 
 There are, no doubt, flaws in the matter, which is 
 here presented as "notes" only, but if such occur, 
 they will doubtless be due more to the youth and in- 
 experience of the pupil who took them down than to 
 the possibility of mistake on the part of the lecturer; 
 but, such as they are, we give them to the reader. 
 
 Professor Agassiz's first lecture was made up of 
 somewhat disconnected suggestions as to the manner 
 in which we should go to work to study the material 
 to be found at hand, about and around us, upon the 
 island. He said: 
 
 "I would call your attention first to the soil and 
 geological formation of our island. Points of com- 
 pass are a very essential feature in geological forma- 
 tion. We find that the barracks lie nearly east and 
 west. You will then find that the islands are cut in- 
 to by numerous bays, necks of land, etc., and the 
 question arises how are these formed? Then you 
 must find out all about the rocks, their connection 
 with the island and their connection with each other: 
 the difference in the material beyond the rocks and 
 beneath them; the difference of soil; and then how 
 the whole resemble those of the adjoining islands. 
 Find if there be any evidence of these islands ever 
 having been connected. In our investigations we 
 must deal with facts of Nature this teaches us always 
 to submit to truth. 
 
 "Now let us turn our attention to the jelly fishes, 
 barnacles, fishes, etc., which will form our chief study 
 
LECTURES. 53 
 
 v 
 
 here. Do not handle any specimen more than is 
 absolutely necessary, you never know to what extent 
 you have injured it. Put your jelly fishes into pails 
 of water by floating them from the net to the pail. 
 A word more about our rocks: each one must collect 
 specimens for himself. There will be found, 
 probably, upon our island, three-fourths or even 
 nine-tenths of all kinds of rocks in the United States. " 
 
 At another time he again took up the subject and 
 said: 
 
 "Most all of the rocks upon our island are imbed- 
 ded rocks, not rocks in place. Some of the neigh- 
 boring islands show rocks in place. Our first ques- 
 tion, upon seeing them is, Where did they come 
 from? The mineral foundation of our earth is alike 
 everywhere. This was first shown by Humboldt. 
 When you find a rock not in position, hunt for one of 
 the same kind in position, then search for specimens 
 between the two localities, and, if possible, trace 
 their connection. Loose materials are called erratic,. 
 or boulders, etc. ; the whole bulk is called drift\. 
 ledges and the like are called rocks in place. Our 
 island probably contains specimens of all of, our 
 rocks, excepting those of volcanic origin. Your 
 specimens should all be broken afresh, upon all 
 sides, so that they may be more accurately studied. 
 Rocks found near the water are usually assorted 
 (those of a size being together), the larger ones 
 lying higher up than the small ones. On hills and 
 away from the agency of water, they are mixed; the 
 small and the great lying together. By this means 
 we recognize the two agencies that are at work de- 
 positing them." 
 
 The third lecture was devoted chiefly to hints upon 
 how to study the jelly fishes, and was illustrated by 
 numerous diagrams. Toward the end he digressed 
 from his subject to give us a few remarks upon 
 fishes, especially regarding the Scup, a specimen of 
 which, recently taken, someone had brought to him. 
 
54 PENIKESE. 
 
 Of it he said: "The Scup is not found north of 
 Cape Cod, neither is it found extensively in South- 
 ern waters. The American coast does not furnish 
 many species of this family, though they are com- 
 mon in the Mediterrean and are called Sparoids." 
 He then gave us the names of the fins and facial 
 bones of fishes. Professor Agassiz was always care- 
 ful as to the books which he recommended for our 
 perusal. Upon the jelly fishes he noticed but two: 
 Allman's "Monograph of English Jelly Fjshes," 
 and Edward Forbes' "Medusae." 
 
 We come now to perhaps the most interesting por- 
 tion of Professor Agassiz's lectures, and those which 
 embody his own original and personal work. They 
 are given in as nearly the exact phraseology as it 
 was possible to obtain them, and commenced some 
 what as follows: 
 
 "Nothing is more difficult than to present a sub- 
 ject whose evidence is incomplete. Regarding the 
 aqueous or other origin of our island, its geological 
 formation does not present sufficient evidence for us 
 to form an opinion as to that origin that is capable of 
 being sustained. There are, at the present day, 
 many false views of great scientific questions held for 
 want of sufficient evidence to assert the truth. One 
 fact is but a small part of the whole evidence. A 
 great deal of our knowledge, even at the present day, 
 is traced back to Aristotle. The sources of true 
 knowledge are very few. Christianity has, in a 
 measure, prevented the advance of science. It has 
 made us believe, and many are satisfied with that. 
 Science, generally, hates beliefs. 
 
 "In 1836 I first felt an interest in these things. I 
 began to investigate everything. I was at the foot 
 of the Alps, when I found that the shepherds had a 
 theory that the masses of rock, everywhere to be seen 
 about them, had been brought down to their present pos- 
 ition by what were then known asgtariers. An eminent 
 civil-engineer, who was then present, held the same 
 
LECTURES. 55 
 
 view. Hitherto, the theories respecting the geologi- 
 cal formation of the earth, as held by Werner, were 
 that all this material had been brought together by 
 water and flood; the Scottish school of scientists 
 maintained that it had all been accomplished by vol- 
 canic action. A violent feud ensued. Leopold Von 
 Buch asserted that both were right. He gave to 
 geology its present shape. I was then a student. 
 Being at the foot of the Jura, I saw rocks in places 
 where it was impossible for water to carry them. 
 The thought came to me that glaciers transported 
 rocks in Switzerland, and why not here also? I 
 thought: why might not glaciers occur in other coun- 
 tries than Switzerland? I went to other countries 
 and studied the evidence. I found that the rocks 
 which glaciers moved were polished, or rough and 
 scratched. Water rocks were hollowed in soft spots, 
 thus making prominent the hard places. Ice pro- 
 duces a smooth surface. Pebbles worn by water are 
 smooth like a hammered surface but dull, not 
 shiny; ice polishes the surfaces and scratches them. 
 If the ice goes in one direction all the creases will 
 run in one direction. Loose pebbles scratched by 
 ice and by water are also different. Erratic boulders 
 are always found in connection with loose materials 
 which are scratched and polished. Loose materials 
 are not stratified. I found out these facts in my 
 study in Germany, France, and in other countries. 
 I went to England, and there found evidence of this 
 glacial action. I was with a friend Mr. Buckland 
 and we were at first alone in our theory. 
 
 "The conclusion we reached was, that at one time 
 the globe was much colder than it is at present. In 
 science one should never suggest anything for which 
 there is not some foundation. The glacial period 
 must have been posterior to the geological period 
 when mastodons and elephants inhabited the whole 
 globe and the climate was more tropical than it is 
 now. We estimated that ice was once 10,000 to 
 12,000 feet deep all over the globe. It is chiefly in 
 
56 PENIKESE. 
 
 temperature that changes occur. If ever our island 
 (Penikese) was below the sea, why not find the same 
 rolled pebbles and low-tide marine animals? No sea 
 has been beating here, for we find no sand or loam 
 has been washed away. All the loose materials re- 
 main in place. The greater part of the local pecu- 
 liarities, such as depressions and inequalities, will 
 have been produced by rain. Glacial action will ex- 
 plain the peculiarities we see on land here. There 
 is nothing so hard to protect as a man's intellect. 
 We can get no patents on our investigations." 
 
 The same subject follows in his next, or fifth lec- 
 ture: 
 
 "A geological period or age ago, the surface of the 
 earth was covered with boulders; this was before 
 there were either plants or animals to be found upon 
 it. Now to understand and to translate the trans- 
 portation of glacial rocks we must understand the 
 formation of glaciers. The idea of glacial motion 
 originated with the peasants of Switzerland. A civil 
 engineer, Werner by name, and a peasant, Charpentier, 
 however, got much of the credit for field observation 
 which I had myself done. In 1837 no geologist ad- 
 mitted that rocks were^moved by glaciers; most of 
 them admit it now, though in a somewhat modified 
 condition. The early scientists who were interested 
 in and studied into this subject, were Scheuchzer, 
 who also first described several fossil fishes; Horace 
 Benedict de Saussure, who published his travels in 
 the Alps, and who first described glaciers; Charp- 
 entier, who studied them considerably and published 
 articles upon them; and myself, Professor Forbes, 
 and Mr. Tyndall, who, lately, described their physi- 
 cal constitution, action, etc. Of these Mr. Tyndall's 
 work is the best. We now come to the question, 
 What is a glacier? 
 
 "Glaciers are composed of different materials ac- 
 cording to the positions selected for investigation. 
 On mountain tops they are mere snow fields; deeper, 
 
LECTURES. 57 
 
 they are composed of ice crystals, the ice becoming 
 more and more compact as you go downwards; until 
 the bottom is clear, solid ice. Snow when re- 
 solved into fine granules is called neve: where this 
 changes to ice is called 'the limit of perpetual snow.' 
 Physical geographies are incorrect in their state- 
 ments of the snow-level on the Straits of Magellan 
 and many other places. Similar conditions are found 
 at the same line of perpetual snow; they are also 
 similar in the same number of degrees distant in dif- 
 ferent localities. Glacial ice differs from common 
 ice, the first is composed of ice crystals melted to- 
 gether and can be reduced to powder, the latter is 
 formed in layers. Glaciers possess a motion in them- 
 selves which is both an upward and a downward mo- 
 tion; it is greatest in the middle, and least upon the 
 edges. Moving ice, therefore, exerts a great power. 
 As the glacier moves, it collects a large quantity of 
 loose materials which it carries along with it. Part 
 of this material over-crowds itself and forms a low 
 line of rocks on either side of the glacier: these lines 
 are called lateral moraines. When two glaciers or 
 two arms of the same glacier unite, they continue as 
 one, while their lateral moraines unite and form a 
 medial moraine. The bottoms of glaciers, then, be- 
 ing covered with rocks, act like an immense rasp. 
 In passing over walls of rocks, or open faces of ex- 
 posed ledges, both the upper faces of the under 
 rocks, and the under faces of the upper rocks, which 
 are in the glacier, are scratched and scarred alike. 
 Yet the rocks which are in the glacier will still be an- 
 gular above where only the ice covers them. Now 
 the continual motion of the ice pushes forward the 
 larger rocks, and at the same time all the loose ma- 
 terial is ground still finer; and each pebble rounded 
 in a manner which is never produced by water. 
 Thus the moraines are ground more and more as 
 they advance, so that, whatever their shape may at 
 first be they come out, at the end of the glacier, 
 rounded material; and when the glacier begins to 
 
58 PENIKESE. 
 
 melt and to recede they are deposited as single or 
 successive terminal moraines. These are crescent- 
 shaped ridges or walls of rock and loose material. 
 If small glaciers will accomplish so much, what 
 might not large ones do?" 
 
 In his sixth and seventh lectures he still continues: 
 "When a glacier meets with an obstacle it breaks 
 and forms crevices. You will find no crevices in 
 neve. The more compact the ice the deeper and 
 broader these are. In a hot day the sides of the 
 glaciers melt and form small brooks. These are 
 sometimes too wide to cross. They carry with them 
 an immense amount of rubbish, which fills up many of 
 the cavities and gaps, and makes pot-holes and new 
 excavations. Sometimes one of these brooks will 
 traverse the whole length of a glacier. 
 
 "The geological phenomena connected with glacial 
 action are extraordinary. There are boulders upon 
 the Jura which, in mineral character, have been 
 traced to the Alps; and at the foot of the Alps is a 
 pudding-stone which is found in the Jura. There is 
 no doubt as to where it came from. Professor Guyot 
 has done more than any other man in studying erratic 
 phenomena. He has proved, that what is in reality 
 done between the Alps and the Jura has been done 
 by glaciers and not by water sweeping up the plains. 
 Water would leave transverse ridges of rocks, while 
 those which occur are in longitudinal ridges, and 
 must have been caused by glaciers from the Alps. 
 How, then, while Switzerland w 7 as so cold could 
 England and other countries have been so warm. / 
 think that the whole globe was covered with ice. I 
 have found traces of glacial action everywhere in 
 mountainous districts that I have searched. In the 
 White Mountains, north of Franconia mountains, is 
 a ridge of thirteen plain morraines. They occur on 
 all sides of the mountains, also. There are signs in 
 New York, Ohio, Maine, New Hampshire, Massa- 
 chusetts, as far as British America, and still other 
 
LECTURES. 59 
 
 places. Everywhere is evidence of a great glacial 
 sheet, of immense thickness, passing over mountains 
 five and six thousand feet high, which left boulders 
 of a similar nature upon their tops and each of their 
 sides. I think that the ice in some places must have 
 been at least fifteen thousand feet thick. It moved 
 in a North-South direction. In Siberia, Asia, and in 
 the United States, gigantic animals were found im- 
 bedded in the ice, in perfect preservation, and show- 
 ing the contents of the stomach, proving that they 
 must have been overpowered suddenly, perhaps by 
 frost. I think that our large and small rivers are the 
 result of the melting of these glaciers. 
 
 "Drift phenomena must be studied locally. There 
 must have occurred local ice which distributed itself 
 in plains different from that which came down from 
 the mountains. The idea that the glacial period was 
 simply an extension of the Arctic ice is nullified by 
 the fact that at the southernmost limit of that ice 
 sheet is a large moraine. The drift wanes in dis- 
 tinctness from north southward. This period, there- 
 fore, was not an enlargement of the northern glaciers. 
 In America are intimations of local glaciers, but they 
 are few; for example, in the White Mountains, on the 
 coast of Maine, and especially at Mt. Desert. The 
 characteristic of drift in America is that it extends 
 over a plain evenly, and without indications of lat- 
 eral moraines. The hills on the borders of Lake 
 Superior are scarred over their whole surface, slope and 
 summit. Indications that this action has been even 
 from north southward is, that the south side of the 
 rocks is not polished, but the boulders are rough and 
 unmarked. In some places there are deviations of 
 much less extent running from 20 to 30, sometimes 
 almost at right angles with the main line: these are 
 indications of local glaciers these often run north- 
 west and southeast. Another peculiarity of Ameri- 
 can glaciers is that most of our boulders are rounded 
 those of Europe and Scotland are angular; where 
 we have circumscribed glaciers we have rounded 
 
6O PENIKESE. 
 
 boulders. We seldom find median moraines in 
 America. The Arctic glaciers encroach largely upon 
 the sea. Our continent has once extended into the 
 sea in the shape of a drift. The level at which the 
 drift extended over all these islands was the same. I 
 think that these islands were once mainland. Local 
 glaciers have been described in many localities, es- 
 pecially by Professor Dana; but they are the effect of 
 a great northern drift and not from local causes, as 
 might be implied." 
 
 Toward the last of the session he returned to the 
 subject and gave us his final lecture upon this won- 
 derful subject. He says: 
 
 "Perhaps the most important feature of glacial 
 action is found in the terminal-moraine. It contains 
 a mineralogical collection from all the region around, 
 which comes from the upper regions and falls or is 
 detached by the glaciers, and all pushed together 
 toward this terminal point of the ice. To examine 
 these moraines and trace the specimens found to 
 their real or probable bed rock is a most important 
 labor of the geologist. That glacial action was once 
 carried on to an extent much greater than could have 
 been possible had the period begun with an enlarge- 
 ment of the Arctic glacier seems evident. Thus we find 
 copper identical withLakeSuperior copper in Michigan, 
 Indiana, and Iowa, and even as far as 500 miles south 
 of its origin, having distinct marks of glacial agency 
 upon it. The rate at which glaciers moved in Amer- 
 ica is not certain. In the Alps, where the slope adds 
 to the inclination, the maximum motion per day is 
 one foot; the minimum thirty inches per year. Let 
 us assume that our glacier moved 100 feet a year, 
 and it will take fifty years for the boulder to go one 
 mile or 25,000 years for it to reach its present po- 
 sition." 
 
 [It has often struck me as a curious fact that in es- 
 timating geological time Professor Agassiz (as well 
 as others) appears to make no account of the fact that 
 
LECTURES. 6 1 
 
 were the motion of the glacier thirty inches a year the 
 period would be forty times that amount or 1,000,000 
 years; if, on the other hand, the motion were faster, the 
 time would decrease in proportion. The rate of 
 time necessary to accomplish a given object may not 
 always correspond with the numerical calculations of 
 writers. Experiments in the chemical laboratory 
 are sufficiently numerous to show the different actions 
 of the same substance under different conditions, 
 say some substances precipitate in 10 minutes with 
 sufficient heat that might otherwise remain 
 10 or 10,000 years without that heat, and 
 to make us pretty careful as to how we lay down a 
 law upon insufficient evidence. Hence, our given 
 geological time must be more or less hypothetical 
 under any circumstances. ED] 
 
 "Large animals being found imbedded in the ice 
 are evidence of its coming quickly. It is not likely 
 that a snow storm capable of freezing large animals 
 in Siberia and North America would be limited to 
 one particular region. It would be graded according 
 to latitude. The question is, how much was there in 
 the coldest latitude; how much in the warmest? Let 
 no one fail to urge upon the members of any expe- 
 dition to the Arctic regions the importance of ascer- 
 taining the motion of Arctic icebergs and glaciers. 
 This motion can be ascertained by the amount of ice- 
 bergs which float away from their extreme southern 
 limit." 
 
 It is thus that we learn the first principles of gla- 
 cial action. How careful our instructor is to distin- 
 guish facts as truths; and possibilities, only, he weaves 
 into theories, which he is very careful to impress 
 upon us arc possibilities. In a letter made public 
 some years since, he said: "The office of Science is 
 not to record possibilities, but to ascertain what Na- 
 ture does," again as far as one "deals with mere ar- 
 guments of possibilities or even probabilities, with- 
 out a basis of fact," he says, that one "departs from 
 the true scientific method." These words are as true 
 
62 PENIKESE. 
 
 today as they were the day they were uttered; they 
 will be as true a thousand, yes, ten thousand years 
 hence: Living truths that never die. 
 
 Professor Agassiz lectured to us every day, and 
 sometimes two or three times a day. His sugges- 
 tions to us in our study of the Animal Kingdom and 
 upon embryology were also of the greatest interest 
 and importance. At one time he tells us: 
 
 "We begin, today a course of lectures on the Ani- 
 mal Kingdom. To know how the knowledge was 
 obtained we must study the history of Zoology. 
 There was a time when animals were studied by their 
 external features alone, and scientists knew so little 
 about classification that they arranged their informa- 
 tion alphabetically. One of the earliest scientists to 
 which we refer today was Caspar Gessner (this should 
 doubtless have been Conrad Gesner, though it is 
 Caspar Gessner plainly in the notes taken at the time 
 the lecture was given). The first classification of 
 animals was into aquatic, aerial, and land animals. 
 Aristotle was one of our earliest and best scientists. 
 Linnaeus' Systema Natura is a marvelous work, con- 
 sidered from our greater and his lesser knowledge of 
 the subject of which he treats. The period of Cuvier 
 is as remarkable as that of Linnaeus. He introduc- 
 ed anatomy as the basis of classification, (there were 
 three editors of his Regne Animalia, in 1817, 1829, and 
 in 1834). Contemporary with him was Carl Ernest 
 von Baer. He studied embryology and arrived at 
 the same conclusions. He gave to the Animal King- 
 dom four classes. Dollinger was the founder of em- 
 bryology. He was great as a guide to further labors, 
 Baer was his pupil. Sanders' Embryology of the 
 Chick is an important work for students in embryol- 
 ogy. Ostroeicher's studies on the capillaries were 
 written under Dollinger's directions. Oken wrote 
 from suggestions made by Goethe. The elder Carus 
 and Geoffrey St. Hillaire works contained the studies 
 of homologies, the latter is now a most important 
 work for the continued advancement of Zoology- 
 
LECTURES. 63 
 
 Will someone explain the difference between analogy 
 and homology? Of embryology as a study in itself 
 Professor Agassiz said: "It is a wonder that such 
 broad and comprehensive generalizations could have 
 been made upon a basis of knowledge derived from 
 so few animals." 
 
 Again, he takes up embryology and says: 
 "The eggs of birds were known, and their parts 
 named, very early; these have been transferred to all 
 other eggs. We have the yolk, with its vitelline 
 membrane; the white; the shell with its two lining 
 membranes with the air space between them at the 
 larger end; and the suspensory cords. Of all these 
 the yolk alone is necessary in producing the young, 
 in fact, the others may all be wanting. Eggs can be 
 of any form. The yolk is a fluid, organized, and at 
 first appears albuminous. The blastoderm, or life 
 portion, is surrounded by a congregation of light cells 
 which cause it to always appear on the top no mat- 
 ter how the egg may be placed. Baer discovered the 
 mammalism egg, and about the same time, 1837, the 
 cell doctrine was advanced. Through the influence 
 of Schleiden the structure of animals and plants be- 
 gan to be compared. Studies of cells and the cellu- 
 lar structure has been continued ever since. They 
 described the cell membrane, the nucleus or point of 
 special life, and the nucleolus or point within this 
 point. Microscopists sought cell tissue everywhere. 
 Embryologists sought the smallest eggs. All parties 
 agreed, finally, that eggs were cells destined to an en- 
 larged growth a peculiar development and, ultimate- 
 ly, an individual existence. 
 
 "Forty years ago the theme of science was the 
 function of organs: Today, it is cells. The minute 
 tentacle of the hydroid polyp contains, at once, cells 
 nervous, muscular, and assimulative. Thus all 
 structures are formed of differentiated or specialized 
 cells; all parts of animals are formed of cells. The 
 study of the changes undergone by these cells has 
 only just begun. Until we know how new individ- 
 
64 PENIKESE. 
 
 uals originate we cannot speculate upon the origin of 
 species. With a power of noo diameters we see, in 
 these minute eggs, small dark spots in the stroma. 
 We know nothing of the properties of these bodies. 
 All we can tell is that dots of all sizes may be seen, 
 hence we conclude that the dots grow. In the larger 
 dots we notice a difference between the periphery and 
 the center, the latter being less dense. Next we see 
 a central condensation. Later a mere hollow until 
 we get a perfect nucleus. Finally, one or several 
 germinal dots, and we have the so-called ovarian 
 egg of the embryologists with which they begin their 
 investigations." 
 
 Well do I remember how often Professor Agassiz 
 urged us to "read only the best books." He seemed 
 especially fond of Cuvier's works, and time and again 
 impressed it upon us that they were a "most valuable 
 basis for scientific study." Among his odd table- 
 talks for he often talked to us from the breakfast, 
 the dinner, and thetea table and even many other 
 times, in the laboratory, and anywhere where that he 
 could find an object to talk about and a group, of two 
 or three, even, to talk to. "Be sure" he would say, "to 
 examine all protozoa which you may secure, to see 
 whether they are independent individuals or different 
 stages of the same individual." In urging a study of 
 Physical Geography, he would add, "for a knowledge 
 of Physical Geography is indispensible to any student 
 of Natural History." He heartily indorsed Professor 
 Guyot's works upon that subject. There were few 
 books he did recommend to us, for he cordially de- 
 tested the ordinary books upon scientific subjects. 
 At one time, in a paroxysm of rage at these "would- 
 be scientists," he exclaimed: "they are mere compil- 
 ations of persons unfamiliar with science, who mix 
 the false and the true:" Alas, shall we ever again 
 meet with his equal, as teacher and pupil and brother 
 combined! 
 
 To one unacquainted with Professor Agassiz, the 
 scenes at Penikese, during the second term of her 
 
LECTURES. 65 
 
 school, was full of fascination and lively animation: 
 but to us, who had studied under the Master, it was 
 one with "the whole head sick, and the whole heart 
 faint." 
 
 In presenting the history of this second and last 
 year of Penikese Island, if I have followed my diary 
 somewhat closely, and thus of necessity repeated 
 many things that had already been said in any pre- 
 vious chapter, I hope that they will not appear ob- 
 jectionable on such account since they may intro- 
 duce us to new features of the original plan, and 
 lead us to new pleasures in the inexhaustable field of 
 research. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SECOND YEAR AT PENIKESE; LABORATORY WORK, 
 
 MORE LECTURES, FAMILIAR DAILY SCENES, 
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF AGASSIZ, THEODORE 
 
 LYMAN ON FISH CULTURE. 
 
 Just one week upon the island, and though we have 
 had plenty to do the time has passed quickly and 
 pleasantly enough. There are, of course, a variety 
 of employments, and no one is confined exclusively 
 to any one thing all the time. You will see some in 
 the laboratory busily employed in the dissection of 
 fishes or other animals. They carefully trace, from 
 origin to terminus, each organ however minute 
 and accurately determine its relation to the other 
 organs and to the surrounding parts of the animals. 
 Then the nerve systems are followed through their 
 various courses to their seat, the brain, which is laid 
 open and shown in all its perfectness. Finally, the 
 veinous and arterial blood systems, injected (to show 
 their finer terminal portions) or not, followed with 
 slowness and with the utmost precision, teach the 
 student lessons which they can never forget. On 
 shelves, in our laboratory, will be found carefully se- 
 lected and prepared specimens of these dissections, 
 and the digestive organs of various species, all neatly 
 tied and suspended in alcohol. Only one week upon 
 the island yet we have laid out work enough for a 
 year's hard labor already, but we came here to 
 work! 
 
 Others you will find at work upon some minute, 
 and often microscopic, dissections of the common 
 clam or mussel. Here our injections do a most 
 beautiful work. Different coloring materials are 
 mixed with gelatine, and, while yet warm and in a, 
 
68 PENIKESE. 
 
 liquid state, are introduced into every vein and art- 
 ery, while every fibre responds; then the whole cools 
 with a hard, fast color. 
 
 Still others are busy over beautiful sea mosses, and 
 the minute and delicate polyzoa and protozoa with 
 which they abound. Professor Bicknell has a class 
 in microscopy, and Mr. Alexander Agassiz will, as 
 soon as his health permits, give instruction about sea 
 animals, such as the medusae, starfishes, sea urchins, 
 jelly fishes, etc., and also in embryology. 
 
 The aquariums are not all as yet in full running or- 
 der, though many of them are already well-filled 
 with sand, stones, sea-weeds, and a goodly number 
 of specimens that are especially adapted to live and 
 thrive in such confined quarters, and represent quite 
 fairly the animal life of the surrounding waters. 
 
 One of our students has recently secured and placed 
 in his tank, one of those most beautiful, delicate, and 
 altogether wonderful little animals, so rare upon our 
 coast, the Physalia often called the Portugese Man- 
 of-War, or the Physalia arethusa of the scientist. It 
 is an exquisite little beauty a dainty, fragile gem 
 and belongs to the class of Acalephce. or Jelly Fishes, 
 of the order Hydroidea or Hydroids, which are also 
 known by the name of polyps, from two Greek words 
 signifying "many-footed" , referring to the tentacles; 
 which were, doubtless, in olden times supposed to be 
 feet, and, apparently, not without reason, since 
 tentacle is from a Latin word signifying "a. feeler, "- 
 and many of these lowest forms of animal life have 
 no feet but their feelers which must thus have orig- 
 inally been supposed to be feet, both from their shape 
 and from their appearance. One little animal, there- 
 fore, has quite a history of its own. Of late years, 
 scientists, who delight in changes and lengthy names, 
 have classed it as: Branch III (of the animal king- 
 don), Ccelenterata; Class I, Hydrozoa; Order III, 
 Siphonophora; Genus, Physalia; Species, Arethusa. 
 Now these long names are apparently meaningless to 
 the majority of mankind, but as we have no specimen 
 
SECOND YEAR AT PENIKESE. 69 
 
 before us, let us try, through the medium of the 
 "dead languages," a little induction a posteriori, and 
 discover, if we can, what our specimen is really like. 
 So we procure the Greek and Latin lexicons, and be- 
 gin our work. With a little difficulty, we find that 
 our first hard name, ccelenterata, is derived from two 
 Greek w T ords, (koilos and enterori) signifying "hollow- 
 entrailed;" this then lets us into the characteristics of 
 the animals of the branch that is, their internal or- 
 gans are, in a great measure almost wholly wanting, 
 or, if present, of so simple a nature as to perform the 
 functions of digestion by means of a bag-like stom- 
 ach which digests principally by assimilation. Our 
 next word, hydrozoa, is quickly found; the "hydra" or 
 famous many-headed monster, or serpent slain by 
 Herclues, standing for the first part of the word; and 
 "zoon" (or zoon as it is often written), the Greek 
 word for an animal this gives us the key to our class 
 characteristics. The third word, siphoncphora, is still 
 more plain, being derived from almost identical Greek 
 words signifying a ''tube" or "siphon," and "I bear" 
 or "bearing." The word pJiysalia comes from a 
 Greek word, also very similar, which signifies "a 
 bubble." Arethusa was the name of a beautiful 
 nymph of Diana's: she was afterward changed into a 
 fountain. 
 
 At first sight, the Portugese Man-of-War would put 
 one in mind, as the name suggests, of an immense 
 oblong, somewhat egg-shaped, bubble of air, with a 
 crest of wavey, wrinkled crenules, much thicker than 
 the surrounding parts, spanning its top and extend- 
 ing to its attenuated ends; the whole an iridescent or 
 burnished purple, with reflections of an hundred kin- 
 dred colors. But, while this delicately shaped and 
 gorgeously tinted little animal rides gracefully along 
 upon the top of the water, dancing merrily with its 
 ripples, we suddenly become aware of an hitherto 
 unseen dense bunch of what resembles a mass of sea- 
 weed, of fine, crinkled hairs and threads, some of 
 which extend far down into the water. We examine 
 
7O PENIKESE. 
 
 it closely perhaps touch it with our hands. It 
 stings us with an electric stroke that makes us feel as 
 if our whole hand had become suddenly alive with a 
 fiery infusion of nettle, which remains for nearly half 
 an hour. The bubble itself, to this wonderful, com- 
 posite animal, is four to six inches in length and 
 some three wide and high in its centre. The bunch 
 of living polyps beneath, twice that size; while the 
 ravellings, for such they seem to be, hang downwards 
 to from twelve to eighteen inches below the clustered 
 mass above, Now this assemblage of living individ- 
 uals must be studied separately from the bubble, as 
 we will still call it. Investigation proves that this is 
 not a single individual, as would at first appear, but 
 a colony of innumerable zooids, carrying above them, 
 a huge wind bladder apparently, only to sustain 
 them just below the surface of the water. The true 
 home of this living, floating island is in the Gulf of 
 Mexico. It must, therefore, only casually drift so 
 far north as its present limit which is rarely beyond 
 Cape Cod. Three specimens, only, were found dur- 
 ing our stay at Penikese, of which, I believe, I alone 
 was the fortunate possessor of the only live one. It 
 was found stranded upon the beach, one morning 
 after a severe storm, in a nearly perished condition. 
 How it survived the storm, the rocks and sand of 
 the beach, and the amount of handling which it un- 
 derwent in being transferred to a pail or fresh sea 
 water, thence to my aquarium, I cannot well under- 
 stand; yet it lived, and threw off a whole tank full of 
 young, which went paddling around everywhere, of 
 their own free will, "as happy as clams at high 
 water." 
 
 This is only one of the many things which occupy 
 our attention. Nearly every aquarium presents some- 
 thing of interest to study, and every moment of our 
 time is fully occupied. Among the animals in some 
 of the other aquariums are: both species of our com- 
 mon stickleback, the sea mullet, several kinds of peri- 
 winkles, and both the large and the small hermit 
 
SECOND YEAR AT PENIKESE. /I 
 
 crabs, which, as they peer cautiously out of their 
 shells, or travel rapidly about with their curious side- 
 long gait, resemble, somewhat, minute, full-grown 
 lobsters and amuse us all highly. There is some 
 talk of setting up a small windmill, that the supply 
 of water for our tanks may be regulated with some 
 degree of certainty, as necessity requires that it 
 should be. Our < 'finds" can then be all properly 
 cared for, and fresh water constantly furnished for 
 them, as is not now the case. Otherwise, we shall be 
 obliged to continue bringing in the water in pails and 
 letting it carefully into the tanks through rubber tub- 
 ing, which is now provided for that purpose. Thus 
 our general laboratory work, and plans for its further- 
 ance, progress as well as one could possibly expect 
 with the limited means at our command. 
 
 While the students study hard during the day time, 
 they amuse themselves, in the evening, by strolling 
 about the island, sitting upon the balconies and en- 
 joying the delicious evening air and fresh, sea breezes, 
 or rowing or sailing over the cool, restless waters round 
 about the island. On Wednesday and Friday even- 
 ings Professor Meyer gives us delightful lectures -up- 
 on sound and hearing, illustrating his experiments 
 with the excellent and costly instruments brought 
 with him from the Stevens' Institute, Hoboken, New 
 Jersey, from which place the genial professor himself 
 hails. His lectures, though not compulsory, are at- 
 tended by everybody, both old and young, and the 
 lecturer is as great a favorite as what he tells us is in- 
 teresting and instructive. 
 
 Occasionally we have lectures upon the lower forms 
 of animal life, by a Professor Barnard a rising young 
 naturalist, who enters quite deeply into the subject. 
 We have quite thorough descriptions of all the lower 
 forms both of animals and vegetables, but more 
 especially the former: those whose structure is that 
 of a simple, proto-plasmic mass, without any definite 
 form, or without (at times, apparently,) even the lit- 
 tle nucleus or life cell which is possessed by almost 
 
72 PENIKESE. 
 
 every animal in existence. Lectures upon these sub- 
 jects are of the highest importance to those engaged 
 in microscopic work and study. One is often com- 
 pletely at a loss how to make the best use of the 
 material at one's command, without a thorough 
 knowledge of just these very minute organisms; and 
 what a field for microscopic investigation they un- 
 fold. 
 
 Among the rare captures, which have been made 
 during the week, mostly from the contents of the 
 "pounds," several of which are located in various 
 places in the water not far from our island, and out 
 of which fishes and other marine animals are brought 
 to the school several times each week, are quite a rare 
 species of the skate fish, a specimen of the thrasher 
 shark, and several other species of fishes interesting, 
 especially, for dissection. The students have already 
 made abundant alcoholic dissections of the common 
 ground shark a small animal of the shark family, 
 about three and a half or four feet in length, which is 
 a very great nuisance to the fisherman; of the com- 
 mon skate; and of the flounder or "flat fish," as we 
 were wont to call it when we were boys. In these 
 the various organs and systems have been traced out, 
 and are shown in a most perfect and beautiful man- 
 ner. The work in this department is going forward 
 under the direction of Professor Putnam. 
 
 A few of our students are particularly interested in 
 the minute dissection and study of animals of the 
 molluscous order. These are guided by Professor 
 Morse, who is assisted by Mr. Brooks, who evidently 
 knows nearly as much about the subject as the profes- 
 sor himself, and whose beautiful preparations are the 
 wonder of all who behold them. 
 
 A number of large diagrams have been prepared, 
 with great skill and labor, for the use especially of 
 beginners, illustrating the complete anatomy, as fine- 
 ly as it can well be rendered on paper, of the leading 
 animals in each group of the animal kingdom; these 
 have been hung about the walls of the laboratories in 
 
SECOND YEAR AT PENIKESE. 73 
 
 the most artistic manner, and present quite an impos- 
 ing effect as well as being very useful. 
 
 The latter part of this month Professor Packard is 
 expected to arrive. He will give instruction in ento- 
 mology and the crustacean and worm families, and 
 take charge of the dredging expeditions. Some very 
 interesting species in these departments appear to be 
 quite abundant in our locality, both on the shores of 
 the island and in the deeper waters farther off, where 
 they are being constantly brought up by the dredge. 
 As many of these are microscopic, a *most prom- 
 ising field will, without doubt, open to the investiga- 
 tors and investigatresses who shall enter therein. 
 
 Among the great days upon the island is mail day. 
 This occurs whenever the steamer, or any other water 
 conveyance, brings the mail bag: generally twice a 
 week. One has but to say: the mail has come! and 
 immediately everything is in commotion. Everybody 
 stops work. No one can think of dissections, lec- 
 tures, or drawings, at such a time. Professors and 
 pupils, all, flock to the lecture-room, where the bag 
 is opened and the letters and "papers distributed. 
 Newspapers are a much coveted article with us, 
 though we none of us have any too much time to de- 
 vote to them; and each paper goes the rounds of 
 everyone on the island until it returns to its owner 
 literally, as the school-boy said: ' 'black, and white, 
 and red," (read,) "all over." 
 
 Our work obliges us all to be early risers at Peni- 
 kese, and I shall not soon forget the self-contente'd 
 grin of delight with which Cuffy our small, black, 
 table-boy armed with an immense tin horn, nearly 
 or quite a foot in length, and such an one as would 
 have delighted the heart of the most fastidious of col- 
 lege Sophomores, used to rush down the walk to the 
 dormitories, and proceed to awaken the sleepers 
 therein with the most resounding toots and heart- 
 rending buzzing sounds that he could evoke, as a sig- 
 nal that breakfast would be ready in about half an 
 hour. Well did he perform this his most delightful 
 
74 PENIKESE. 
 
 duty! He would usually continue the exercise until, 
 the most obdurate lover of Somnus had become fully 
 aroused. The flourishes and grimaces with which all 
 this was accompanied and executed would have 
 caused many a hearty laugh, could you have seen 
 him, as you were awakened, in spite of your desire to 
 remain longer in delicious repose, by the perseverance 
 of the good-natured urchin, who reminded one greatly 
 of a small, insignificant, but very troublesome fly, 
 who returns again and again, as often as you drive 
 him away, t(5 torment you. 
 
 Our dormitories, this year, are much more conven- 
 ient, in every way, than they were the year previous. 
 Now there are plenty of rooms; and each person is 
 thus provided with a separate and individual apart- 
 ment. These two buildings, which are dormitories 
 above and laboratories beneath, are crossed in the 
 center by a lecture-room, and look, from without and 
 at a little distance, like an immense letter H. The 
 laboratory doors face the sea at least two of them, 
 at the rear of each room and give us plent}' of fresh 
 air, as well as a fine view of the harbor and of the 
 surrounding waters. In these rooms we are busy by 
 day and by night. I recall one of our number who 
 labored both diligently and often at the Echini. 
 These "Sand-dollars," as they are vulgarly called, 
 engrossed his especial attention. The seamen call 
 them "Spanish dollars," owing, no doubt, to the fact 
 that they come from the bottom of the sea and call to 
 mind, perhaps, the old legends of hidden treasures 
 restored to rash adventurers by some similar, seem- 
 ingly mysterious process as that by which now we 
 dredged old ocean's bottom, and brought to light its 
 valuable products. 
 
 During our second week upon the island, which 
 has just closed, we have had another delightful even- 
 ing lecture on sound, by Professor Mayer; his agree- 
 able manners and perfect experiments making it 
 doubly interesting. Mr. Barnard, also, has given 
 several additional talks upon the protozoa or lower 
 
SECOND YEAR AT PENIKESE. 75. 
 
 animals; but, although the speaker tried his utmost 
 to illustrate the difference between these lowest 
 forms, I sadly fear that, to many, the am&ba and pro- 
 tamceba and amixa and protamixa, were so confounded 
 in the minds of the listeners, owing, no doubt, to the 
 slight real difference between them, that few appreciat- 
 ed the lecturer's earnest efforts. But Mr. Roetter, the 
 genial, patient Mr. Roetter, has shown more and more 
 of the calm endurance required to complete a finished,, 
 satisfactory sketch of some object of special interest. 
 How slowly, methodically, and yet how well he drew 
 and instructed; his own drawings were our object les- 
 sons, often, and well we knew that we could never 
 attain to such a degree of artistic beauty and excel- 
 lence. It was thus that each professor, in his depart- 
 ment, sought to give us his best from which to form a 
 model for us for our future scientific advancement 
 and career. 
 
 Sunday! It is a very quiet day with us: no work, 
 but complete rest. We have church, or rather a sort 
 of social meeting or gathering together in the morn- 
 ing, and are left free to wander where we will for the 
 remainder of the day, which closes with a singing-ser- 
 vice if so we may call it from the little fort on the 
 hill, in the evening, and from which it is accounted 
 quite a disgrace to be absent. In the singing all who 
 can and wish join. 
 
 After considerable urging, our colored waiters form 
 a chorus of their own and treat us to some of their 
 native songs. Far over the waters float these simple 
 words of praise. Everyone who has ever heard them 
 is aware of the wonderfully peculiar pathos that there 
 is in the melody of songs sung by good colored singers. 
 There were four in our chorus, and their voices har- 
 monized well together. We retired from the little 
 fort, during the singing, and the minstrels occupied it 
 alone. They sang with great power, pronouncing 
 each word clearly and distinctly. Their songs were 
 simple, both in word and in tune, but they seemed to 
 us, upon that wave-lapped island, so far from land r 
 
/6 PENIKESE. 
 
 as coming from creatures more angelic than human- 
 more divine than the civilized relics of a barbaric 
 race. We remained near and listened some stand- 
 ing, others reclining upon the grass near by: And 
 so the twilight passed into evening shades, and they 
 into the darkness of the night, and it was late before 
 we retired. 
 
 Today, Monday, Professor Wilder gave us a lecture 
 upon Professor Agassiz. He told us that the latter 
 had told him, some time ' previous to his death, that 
 he feared that he might pass away at any moment, 
 and that he believed that his days on earth were num- 
 bered; that he might die. "in a year, a month, a 
 week, a day, or even an hour," adding, simply, "and 
 I am prepared." Such were Mr. Agassiz's own con- 
 victions. We too, believe, with another, that Pro- 
 fessor Agassiz's death is "one of the deepest calamit- 
 ies that has fallen upon the thinking world." 
 
 But let me stop for a moment to tell you who Pro- 
 fessor Wilder is. He seems more personally attached 
 to Professor Agassiz's family than most of our other 
 instructors. He is eager to execute Professor Agassiz's 
 slightest wish, and is here and there and everywhere 
 about the grounds. He lectured, also, upon many 
 themes: the lancelet, sharks, rays and lampreys. 
 He also began a course it NEUROLOGY. He had a 
 deep reverence for truth. 2 ruth in Science must be 
 paramount. His enthusiasm, also, was equal to that 
 of any of our teachers, and though still young he 
 gave signs of that prominent activity of mind for 
 which he afterwards became so noted. 
 
 On Tuesday evening the old Agassiz Natural His- 
 tory Club was again organized, with a president, two 
 vice-presidents, a secretary and treasurer combined in 
 the same office, and an executive committee of five 
 members. The meeting was opened by a few re- 
 marks, appropriate to the occasion, by the president, ' 
 and then given up to the discussion of scientific sub- 
 jects, which pleasantly occupied the remainder of the 
 evening. Remarks were made on the movements of 
 
SECOND YEAR AT PENIKESE. 77 
 
 the. eyes of fishes while swimming in different posi- 
 tions in the water. Two of our professors, who were 
 present, explained: The one, the nerves and move- 
 ments of the fish eye in general; the other, the gen- 
 eral structure of the eye and the apparent reason for 
 the peculiar movements previously alluded to. The 
 question was, as to whether the pupil moved in a line 
 with the inclination of the body or not; the opinion, 
 pretty generally expressed, seemed in favor of the af- 
 firmative. Remarks were also made upon the differ- 
 ence in the development of the tadpole, or young, of 
 our different species of toads and frogs. In showing 
 the periods of growth in the different species, the 
 speaker said: that in batrachians the hind feet were 
 those which were first developed, while in the sala- 
 manders it was the fore feet; thus distinguishing the 
 young of these two great classes. He said that all 
 our species of the former, excepting those of the 
 green and spotted frogs, assume their true form very 
 soon after hatching from the egg, while those refered 
 to were sometimes two to three years in maturing. 
 He showed, also, that physical conditions have much 
 to do with the quickness with which they assume 
 their adult forms, and that they must be able, for 
 their proper and perfect development, to leave the 
 water at times, and climb up upon the mud or earth 
 banks of their breeding-pool, where, thus keeping 
 their bodies still moist and hence supple, they could, 
 at the same time, exercise their limbs and receive the 
 sun upon them. And thus, after many other inter- 
 esting and instructive discussions, the meeting ad- 
 journed for one week. 
 
 Our lecture, about this time, from Professor Theo- 
 dore Lyman, the veteran Fish-culturist, upon the 
 subject of pisiculture, excited in us a great deal of at- 
 tention. I well remember how masterly he handled 
 his subject, and how we admired his instructive talk 
 upon a question of which, hitherto, we had remained 
 in such utter ignorance; and this, as near as I can re- 
 
78 PENIKESE. 
 
 call from the few notes I was able to take at the time, 
 is what he said:* 
 
 "Artificial fish-culture, means the culture of fishes 
 artificially: the surrounding of them with conditions of 
 growth which shall render their growth more favor- 
 able than as it is found occurring in Nature." We 
 understand, by this, that the lecturer would seek to 
 take away the deteriorating environments in Nature 
 which seek continually to undermine and undo that 
 which she seeks continually to do, by creating fish- 
 breeding establishments whose object shall be to as- 
 sist Nature in her best endeavors. 
 
 "The true fishes," continued the lecturer, "are 
 egg-bearing animals which lay their eggs in the water. 
 In the salmon and trout, the female works a hole in 
 the ground with its nose and tail in w r hich to deposit 
 them. The shad lays its eggs differently: it comes 
 from the sea up the rivers to spawn, as the process of 
 laying the eggs is called, which occurrs free in the 
 water. They are light colored, transparent, globular, 
 and hatch in from twenty-four to forty-eight hours. 
 The percoid fishes make holes or nests in the sand 
 and, after the eggs are deposited in them, watch 
 them with great care. 
 
 "In breeding fishes one must be careful about four 
 things: raising the young from the egg; transporting 
 live breeders; dams; and protection from surround- 
 ing enemies." 
 
 "The Salmonida include the salmon, trout, white- 
 fish (of the great lakes), smelt, and capereing,as prin- 
 cipal types; they are all good food fish but the last." 
 I cannot believe that the lecturer was fully aware, 
 however, of the extent to which the latter fish is an 
 article of food (caught, dried, and preserved for win- 
 
 *Our object in quoting Dr. Lyman's lecture, is not so much 
 to inform one upon Fish-culture, though in this respect we 
 hope that it will not be without its fruits, as to show how lit- 
 tle we knew then of a subject which, in so few years, has 
 sprunar up to be one of the most important subjects of the 
 present day. 
 
SECOND YEAR AT PENIKESE. 79 
 
 ter use) all along the coast of the north shore of the 
 St. Lawrence, even along the Labrador peninsula, 
 when he made the above remark. ' "True trout and 
 salmon are marked by a small fatty fin just behind the 
 dorsal. Trout vary in color, size, form, and in many 
 other particulars. Overfed brook trout are very 
 large." Along the north shore of the St. Lawrence 
 and in Labrador waters, (even in Canada,) "overfed 
 brook trout" are caught in nets and by hook and line, 
 weighing from two to Jive pounds, they are salted 
 down and sold in the Canadian markets by the barrel. 
 "There is quite a difference between the fat brook 
 trout and those taken from the sea, (the latter are fe- 
 males, I think, and the males do not leave their na- 
 tive stream. ) The salmon are very lean after spawn- 
 ing. 
 
 "In a hatchery keep the hatching box well sup- 
 plied with a good supply of fresh water it should be 
 kept at a temperature of 47 o to 50 o . Build a gate 
 over the stream, behind the box, to regulate the 
 amount of water; dig a pond or ponds, plank them 
 inside, lead the water into them from the stream, and 
 lead off the waste water. In the hatching-hojise, 
 each separate box should have a separate stop-cock 
 to regulate the supply of water, and also a cover to 
 keep the insects out of it. Trout and salmon depos- 
 ite their eggs on a gravelly bottom and in rapid, run- 
 ning water. Do not keep them together, as they eat 
 ach others spawn and young. As regards time, the 
 hatching of the young depends upon the temperature 
 of the water. If the water be 50 o the spawn will 
 hatch in fifty days; and five days later for every de- 
 gree lower. The eggs will sustain intense cold and 
 yet survive. The young resemble greatly some of 
 the fossil fishes. The trout lie helpless with an at- 
 tachment of a large yolk sack for sometime before a 
 vigorous growth begins; with salmon the time is not 
 so long. Young fish are fed upon ox or calves' liver 
 in a finely divided state. The enemies of both egg 
 and young are numerous. While lying in the hatch- 
 
So PENIKESE. 
 
 ing box the eggs are attacked by a mould or fungus,, 
 which glues them together in a mass. To avoid this, 
 cover the box with tar, charcoal, or asphalt varnish. 
 Water insects must be watched and removed. Mice 
 will eat both eggs and young if exposed. Keep the 
 box covers closed, or provide them with springs, so- 
 that the light may be excluded. When once put in- 
 to a stream the young will be rapidly destroyed by 
 other fish, frogs, heron, and water snakes. 
 
 "Some fish do not run to the sea. The salmon 
 does, and thereby gains its large size, as no small 
 fish of this species are found in the sea. In its nat- 
 ural waters, the eggs are laid at the head of some 
 small stream, where the young may be found. They 
 are then about four inches long with dark bars on 
 their sides, and go by the name of pars; further down 
 the river or stream are found larger fish, which have 
 lost their bars and gained a silvery coating, these are 
 called smalts. The pars change their features slowly, 
 the smalts more rapidly, those which descend to the 
 sea often feed so voraciously that they gain a pound a 
 day. 
 
 "Shad are studied in this country. They belong to- 
 the herring group. When they return from the sea 
 to spawn their stomach is almost empty yet they 
 themselves are very fat. After spawning they return 
 to the sea again, but often die of starvation before 
 reaching it. Until 1867, no one had thought of rear- 
 ing the young fish from the egg. Seth Greene suc- 
 ceeded, at South Hadley Falls, Mass., where he found 
 the waters of the Connecticut River just fitted for his 
 purpose. To keep them in the water and not loose 
 them he constructed a floating box, but hatched only 
 a few fish the first time. Then he made a box hav- 
 ing no bottom, which he fastened with floats in the 
 river. In this he hatched the fish in sixty hours. At 
 first they were small and greatly resembled the larvae 
 of mosquitoes. When let into the stream they im- 
 mediately sought the middle of the river. Trout and 
 salmon seeking the banks. As they descended they 
 
SECOND YEAR AT PENIKESE. 8 I 
 
 grew rapidly. In two years time they returned as 
 chicken shad; perfect males and females, and market- 
 able. They go down the river in September. They 
 do not migrate, as many would suppose, but the fish 
 from each river keep distinct. The fisherman tell, 
 by the intensity of color, what waters they are from. 
 They appear in Savannah, Georgia, in February; in 
 Washington, D. C., in March; in Massachusetts, in 
 June. 
 
 "The eggs of fishes differ in size. In the trout and 
 salmon there are about 1,000 eggs to the pound; in 
 shad, 30,000; in some larger fish, as many as 70,000. 
 Some fishes cannot be bred artificially it then be- 
 comes necessary to transfer live breeders. These 
 generally lay their eggs, not in mass but singly. 
 The fish themselves must be delicately handled, as a 
 damage to their skins usually results in death. Black 
 bass will grow to a weight of thirty-five to thirty-six 
 pounds. They were transported from Saratoga Lake 
 in 1850. They must be kept in water of a certain 
 temperature, the water being frequently changed. 
 Trout can be transported to a great distance. Fish 
 are transported from water to water by fish-ways. 
 The greatest enemy of the trout is the pickerel." 
 
CHAPTER VIII.. 
 
 MORSE vs. PUTNAM ON EVOLUTION. THE END. 
 
 It was during this second year's course at Penikese 
 Island, that the lectures upon evolution by Professor 
 Morse, and arguments against that theory by other of 
 the professors, formed a distinctive feature of our in- 
 struction. 
 
 Professor Morse was evidently an ardent evolution- 
 ist, at least one would judge so from his lectures 
 and personal conversation upon the subject. He 
 gave us many interesting talks upon it and seemed 
 to have no patience with any one who did not think 
 as he thought, or believe as he believed, regarding it. 
 Some of his oft-repeated and apparently pet expres- 
 sions were: "As you culminate in any group, you 
 find features similar to those of the higher verte- 
 brates," or, "there are no forms but that, in their cul- 
 mination, point to the vertebrates;" still again, "cer- 
 tain parts of the mollusks show a resemblance to 
 man, as, for example, the eye and nerve ganglion, 
 protected by a covering, suggests the skull." 
 
 I well remember how once the professor illustrated 
 the progression of animal life from the lowest inverte- 
 brate to the highest vertebrate by an admirable, sys- 
 tematic] tree of trunk, branches, and twigs; even, 
 shooting here and there all over the blackboard, and 
 ^nded by declaring the precepts of the evolution of 
 man from all this treey and twigy matter. Unfortu- 
 nately, however, man was made to appear at the ex- 
 tremity of one of these insignificant branchlets. As a 
 result during the evening of the same day, the figure 
 remaining upon the board during that time, some 
 mischievious person made, naturally enough as far as 
 simple appearances went, a few additional branchlets 
 to the limb of man with the words "man in 1900?" 
 
84 PENIKESE. 
 
 One can imagine the scene which followed upon the 
 discovery of the marks: the consternation of the pro- 
 fessor, and the good-natured raillery of the scholars. 
 But this did not deter him from further lectures upon 
 the subject; or we, who listened, from asking our- 
 selves, like Pilate of old "what is truth" in this mat- 
 ter. 
 
 Of course not all who heard his lectures fully 
 agreed with Professor Morse in everything which he 
 said, in fact, I am of the opinion that the majority 
 rather sided against than in favor of his theories; yet, 
 personally, he was a great favorite with everyone, and 
 was greeted with a perfect storm of applause when- 
 ever he appeared amongst us nor will we soon for- 
 get the apparent interest and enthusiasm with which 
 he always entered upon his subject, nor was that in- 
 terest weakened, in either instructor or pupil, to the 
 end. 
 
 I will now give you the substance, as fully and as 
 clearly as my notes will allow, of Dr. Morse's most 
 important arguments in favor of the theories of evolu- 
 tion and natural selection. He began as follows: 
 
 "I come before you tonight, to say a few words 
 upon a subject quite foreign to my usual one the 
 molluscous branch of the invertebrate kingdom. It 
 is one which I think ought to be presented to you in 
 a fair way, as it is one which is now agitating the 
 whole world. I will not ask you to believe the evi- 
 dence to be set forth against your better judgments; 
 but I ask your attention while I explain, and lay be- 
 fore you, the views which are held by those who are 
 supporters of the evolution theory, and supporters of 
 Mr. Darwin; and I think you will see that it is not so 
 terrible a thing to suppose man originated from a 
 branch of the lower or animal kingdom, or, in other 
 words, from the ape, after all. 
 
 "It is well known that all animals, in some form or 
 other, either in their adult or in their embryonic 
 stages resemble other animals, higher or lower, in their 
 adult or embryonic stages; and that all classes have 
 
EVOLUTION. 85 
 
 forms that are almost impossible to be separated from, 
 or are intermediate between, the two kingdoms of na- 
 ture : For instance, many of the lower forms of polyzoa 
 cannot be definitely separated from many of the alga 
 or seaweeds, which, at a certain period of growth, 
 throw out free forms having small bodies with a tail 
 at each end, and which move about freely in the 
 water. Thus the two forms, the animal and the 
 plant, are so similar that a definite study of each is 
 absolutely necessary in order to separate them with 
 any degree of satisfaction if at all. Such a study 
 has not as yet been made, and, undoubtedly, when 
 it is made, many errors in our belief concerning them 
 will be corrected, if not our whole classification of 
 them altered. Then, too, we have many animals in 
 the insect or articulate branch, which insensibly run 
 into each other and into others of other branches, 
 these are so closely allied as to be almost inseparable 
 if not quite so. Now to what does all this tend? 
 
 "Many of the old scholars of science classified the 
 animal kingdom in such a way that there were no in- 
 termediate forms by placing the doubtful genera and 
 species in separate and distinct groups; thus repre- 
 senting the whole animal and vegetable kingdoms by 
 separate and distinct groups, also. But we see, now, 
 that this is contrary to their general structure, and 
 opposed to true classification. If we represent the 
 old classification by a series of straight lines, we 
 shall have a good illustration of the relation of the 
 old orders (or, better, branches) to each other; or 
 even if the lines are placed in an inclined direction, 
 one line being above the other, we shall still have a 
 very good representation of the way in which the ani- 
 mal kingdom was classified by the old writers, 
 though each writer represented them by a different 
 number of branches and orders: one conceding seven 
 branches and twenty-eight orders; and another, elev- 
 en branches and seventeen orders; and so on. 
 
 "As I have said before, we know that many genera 
 run into each other in such a way that they are al- 
 
86 PENIKESE. 
 
 most wholly indistinguishable from one another, per- 
 haps quite so. We cannot place these doubtful 
 forms in separate families, for it will not only show 
 that we have not tried to separate them and give 
 them their true places, but that we have built up a 
 false classification, that cannot stand because it has 
 no foundation. Now! what we evolutionists claim is, 
 not that these branches are distinct creations, created 
 to puzzle the naturalist, but that they are diverging 
 species from branches that insensibly run into each 
 other, in the same way that two unparallel lines will, 
 at some time, meet, however different they are at 
 their extremities. Thus we think that the letter V 
 should be the symbol of the evolutionist; thus you 
 will see how one branch insensibly runs into another, 
 and why it is we find no intermediate forms why it 
 .is, also, that the 'missing link' of Darwin, as it is 
 called, is an animal to be dreamed of rather than to 
 be actually seen. 
 
 "Now to prove more completely this nearness of 
 relation, this running of one group into another, let 
 us take some division of the animal kingdom which it 
 would seem impossible to connect with anything but 
 itself. For instance everybody knows a bird by its 
 feathers. But, if w r e examine its skeleton, we find 
 that it corresponds to a reptile standing upon two 
 legs; \\iththefrontlegsslightly modified to suit a 
 different sphere of action, the long tail off to effect 
 a balance, and the head slightly altered to suit a 
 change in food. Note, now, the result of investiga- 
 tion! An animal was found, some years since, with 
 such truly reptilian characters, that even the best 
 anatomists thought that it was a reptile. At first, all 
 of the parts of this wonderful animal were not dis- 
 covered; but, little by little, the remaining parts 
 came to light, until the discovery of the head, by Pro- 
 fessor Marsh, completed the skeleton. All of its 
 characteristics, save one, were reptilian, and, but for 
 that one, it would have been considered the skeleton 
 of a reptile: In place of the four legs there was a 
 
EVOLUTION. 87 
 
 wonderful development of the two wings of a bird,, 
 slightly modified to suit the form of the animal, and' 
 from these wing-shaped structures proceeded actual 
 feathers. There was the central shaft, the barbs, and 
 the barblets clearly defined leaving no doubt what- 
 ever as to the identity of the animal in question. It 
 was a reptilian bird. And so we find two orders, or 
 rather branches, which it seemed at first sight impos- 
 sible not to distinguish, so running into each other as 
 to present an animal possible to belong to either. A 
 connecting-link, as we would call it, between the 
 birds and the reptiles. What can this be but the de- 
 velopment of the one into the other? Here we have 
 a means of communication between the two branches,. 
 but this is not all. 
 
 "Again, look at the embryonic stages of the bird 
 and some of the higher reptiles, and you will find, that, 
 at a certain stage, the young bird is, apparently, iden- 
 tical in structure with tbe young reptile. Place the 
 two, at that stage, side by side, and you will fail to 
 tell which is the bird and which the reptile. It is 
 only at a further stage of the development that the 
 characteristics begin to change, and the bird assumes 
 the elongated beak, and the webbed toes, which, at a 
 certain stage, are found in all bird embryos; the front 
 legs then assume the form of wings, and the tail is 
 lost. The reptile retains its peculiarities." 
 
 The professor here entered into a long and very 
 scientific discussion, by which he considered it prov- 
 en, beyond further, reasonable doubt, that "tarsal, 
 true tarsal bones," existed in birds, and could be dis- 
 covered, under medium powers of the microscope, in 
 the embryo, at a certain stage of its development. 
 This he affirmed, proved "another point of connection 
 between the birds and the reptiles" 
 
 Again continuing, he says: 
 
 "With a few exceptions, ante-evolutionists are 
 merely species describers. They are careless of the 
 fact that conditions and circumstances may alter 
 growth ;and are endeavoring to build up monumens for 
 
$8 PENIKESE. 
 
 themselves by describing new species. Now if evolu- 
 tion be true down will go their species." (The profess- 
 or had been talking particularly of mollusks, but 
 whether of the Unios or of the Land shells, the notes do 
 not state). "Look at the difference in the number of 
 species abroad and in this country. In England they 
 have been reduced to about forty; and an eminent nat- 
 uralist has taken some dozen of these and, by subject- 
 ing them to different circumstances, actually reduced 
 that number. If this can be done in a short period 
 of time, what might we not expect in looking back for 
 one or even two hundred thousands of years? Take 
 the species in New England, some twenty; and then 
 go to the western portion of the United States, in 
 Ohio, Tennessee, and the tributaries of the vast Miss- 
 issippi surrounded on the north by the Laurentian 
 chain, on the east by the Alleghanies, and on the west 
 by the Rocky mountains one vast basin! aud we find 
 species living in the brackish pools of water that are 
 identified with those living in the sea. In the fresh 
 water we find living species that are identical with 
 those living in the brackish water. These all go by 
 different names, because found in different localities; 
 but they are so absolutely identical that, if placed 
 side by side it is impossible to separate them. This 
 is true of a great majority of our species so called. 
 Now what is the cause? It is clear enough to my 
 mind. The sea, formerly, filled this large basin, and, 
 gradually receding, left those large rivers which, af- 
 ter being nourished by the rain for years, grew fresh 
 retaining many of their old and more hardy forms of 
 animal life from the ocean. These forms, in turn, 
 gradually became changed so as to sustain life in 
 brackish, and then in fresh water. This process of 
 change of living to suit a difference of environment, 
 can now actually be performed artificially with some 
 of our species. Thus we find, that it is possible to 
 take forms which if introduced directly into fresh wat- 
 er would be instantly killed, and by gradually modify- 
 ing their circumstances, cause them to become actual 
 
EVOLUTION. 89 
 
 inhabitants of fresh water and, in the naturalists' esti- 
 mation, new species. 
 
 "Professor Hooker took Alpine plants and brought 
 them to the foot of the mountain upon which he found 
 them, and, in a few years, actually succeeded in pro- 
 ducing plants which, in every respect, differed from 
 the originals, yet combining certain characters which 
 proved them identical with a species of a wholly dif- 
 ferent name and genus. By and by the naturalist 
 will be endowed with prophetic vision, as it were, and 
 be able to tell when to expect certain modifications, 
 and where to find them. 
 
 "Now in regard to protective coloring. What is it 
 if not the way in which some animals are enabled to 
 secure their prey and to guard themselves from their 
 enemies. Look at an instance which I myself noted! 
 A troup of small fishes were quietly swimming over 
 some eel-grass when, suddenly, they took a quick turn 
 and swam off in a different direction; then, seeing before 
 them a bright, tin peach can, which had been thrown 
 into the water, they separated and instantly darted off 
 everywhere. Now what bothered me for a long time 
 was the cause of their fright at the eel-grass, and 
 it was a long time before I discovered it. By ac- 
 customing my eyes to the water, and studying it in- 
 tently for some time, I found, buried snugly in the 
 grass and of just the same color, the form of an ugly 
 old sculpin, who, as the fishes came over him, had 
 gulped down some half a dozen of them to make a 
 meal of. The sudden disappearance of so many of 
 their comrades at once, was enough to terrify the ranks 
 of any company. Of course they did not see their 
 enemy until he had made victims of some of their 
 number. Then the poor, innocent tin can must be 
 instantly avoided for its glaring colors. If that is not 
 an instance of protective coloring, what is? 
 
 "Then, too, the practical importance of the 'sur- 
 vival of the fittest' can be illustrated in this way: Sup- 
 pose that there was but one cod fish in the word, and 
 that it produced 9,000,000 eggs. All lived, and each 
 
go PENIKESE. 
 
 adult fish produced 9,000,000 more eggs. As a result 
 of this increase, the world would soon be buried a 
 thousand feet deep in cod fish. (Applause). But, 
 as it is, they are being continually thinned out; only 
 about one-half of the eggs laid are impregnated, 
 scarcely one-half of these survive impregnation one- 
 half of this half are killed when very young by frogs 
 and other fishes, and, during their whole growth, they 
 are being continually lessened. Even when fishes 
 (fishes of other species, I mean,) go down the rivers 
 to the ocean," (the professor, doubtless, refers to sal- 
 mon, shad, and other river fish, ) there stands a great 
 barrier of enemies through which all must pass; and 
 think what few survive! No wonder that those are 
 the sharpest, keenest, strongest, and best fitted to al- 
 lude their enemies. The remark made concerning 
 shells and their reduction in species, will also apply 
 to fishes and other branches of the animal kingdom^ 
 and, contrary to what is stated by the non-evolution- 
 ists that the greater the amount of material we get the 
 better we are able to separate species, I say that by 
 this we are the better able to condense species. 
 
 "De Candole accepted, at first, the complete yet 
 complex classification of the oaks, as given by emi- 
 nent botanists; yet even he admits that, given the 
 same climate, temperatures, soil, and other circum- 
 stances which affect their growth, many species con- 
 verge and finally meet. 
 
 "The divtrgence of species is going on all over the 
 world, and what we want to do is to unite them as 
 much as possible, and find out the truth in regard to 
 them. If anybody can prove the theory of Mr. Dar- 
 win false by true facts, we are all ready to believe 
 him." 
 
 The professor then spoke of the races and ages of 
 man in the world, since its beginning, and instanced 
 them as proof of the theory which he supported, 
 namely, the "survival of the fittest." He next made 
 a statement, which is the strong point of the whole 
 theory, that: "Even if we look at it in a religious 
 
EVOLUTION. 91 
 
 point of view, what is more beautiful than to imagine 
 us, in centuries and centuries of time, gradually grow- 
 ing better and better, stronger and stronger and more 
 perfect, until, by the gradual growth and survival of 
 the fittest, the best we have ultimately reaches full 
 perfection. I think that the theory of evolution is 
 the only one that will explain the peculiarities of our 
 living organisms." 
 
 During the latter part of the session of the school, 
 and after Professor Morse's lectures upon evolution, 
 we had a few words upon the subject, though in a dif- 
 ferent direction, from Professor Putnam. Mr. Put- 
 nam is as valid and sound a reasoning non-evolution- 
 ist as is Mr. Morse an ardent and theorizing evolution- 
 ist. I well remember how, one day, the former stop- 
 ped suddenly in a lecture upon fishes the myxine 
 being the subject of his talk and after looking at us 
 for a few moments with one of his tired yet kindly 
 smiles, said: 
 
 "As this is my last lecture, and as so much has 
 been said already concerning the theory of evolution, 
 and that in its favor, I think it but fair that a few 
 things should be said to you upon the other side, and 
 I propose, this morning, to give you a few facts that 
 have led me to place myself on that side: 
 
 "Of the three lowest branches of the vertebrate 
 kingdom, we have represented the lancets, the myx- 
 ine, and the lampreys. Now! if the theory of evolu- 
 tion is correct, we would naturally expect to find these 
 three groups differing only in such a way that one is 
 the higher power of the other; but, what do we find? 
 In trie lampreys, the highest of the three classes, we 
 find the eggs forming in the oviduct, and falling free 
 into the abdominal cavity. In this little myxine, be- 
 sides other peculiarities, there are no oviducts." 
 
 Here the professor explained in full the formation 
 of the egg, and the other peculiarities of its growth, 
 etc., and said: "Thus we have an animal next higher 
 than the amphioxus, (the lowest form amongst the 
 vertebrates, and cited by many as the connecting- 
 
92 PENIKESE. 
 
 link between back-bone and non-back-bone life,) giv- 
 ing characteristics similar to those of the higher 
 groups of selachians and even some of the higher 
 orders of animals themselves, though, in general de- 
 velopment, far inferior to the lampreys even, which 
 are higher in so many respects. Now this is only one 
 instance of the distinctive character of individuals. The 
 evolutionists would probably say, that this simply 
 formed a branch which refused to unite; but, to my 
 mind, that hardly accounts for the fact: It hardly 
 seems possible that there should be found so many 
 branches, as there really are, refusing to unite." 
 
 Here, Professor Putnam's remarks were cut short 
 by some call in another direction, and he left the island 
 before completing the talk which he had promised us, 
 and had, so far, so ably and so significantly begun. 
 
 It is, without any doubt, such facts as these: spe- 
 cies of a known and definitely lower group possessing 
 so many of the characteristics of the higher animals, 
 that cause the working naturalists to rebel against the 
 ardor of his more sanguine brother scientist, who first 
 pronounces his theory, and then endeavors to fit to it 
 or explain away from it the facts that come within his 
 reach. Without doubt Agassiz saw far enough into 
 Nature's realities to avoid theories and useless contro- 
 versies. He endeavored to let his investigations re- 
 fute theories based upon false premises. 
 
 Professor Morse, when he said that anti-evolution- 
 ists were, "with a few exceptions, merely species de- 
 scribers," forgot the tremendous concession thereby 
 made to those same "non-evolutionists," since one of 
 the evolutionist's grand theorems is, that "no one has 
 as yet even defined what a species is." The non-evo- 
 lutionists do not seek to make species, genus, family, 
 orders, branch, and such like divisions of the animal 
 kingdom synonymous with the term individual, as do 
 the evolutionists, though they, the former, do believe 
 in the universal oneness if we may so call it of 
 matter, as well as in its indestructibility. 
 
 As, at length, I draw near to the conclusion of my 
 
EVOLUTION. 93 
 
 task a most delightful and pleasant task, I admit 
 of sketching, for my readers' benefit, the history of 
 Penikese Island; what crowds of memories press 
 around and upon me: Memories that I have written 
 about and memories that I have not written about, 
 but which yet hover around and about places hallow- 
 ed by the mysterious ever present presence of him 
 whose memory is dear to so many. As I draw near 
 to the conclusion of my task, I say, I fear for both what 
 I have written and what I have not written. What I 
 have written, that it ought not to have been written, 
 and what I have not written that it ought to have been 
 written. Yet, such as it, it must stand. My object 
 has been not to transcribe to you a dull, dry, monot- 
 onous diary of facts difficult to digest, but rather, 
 by a taste of our pleasures and enjoyments, to leave 
 the mind of the reader in a state of anticipation and 
 desire to explore Nature and the mysteries of Na- 
 ture ;for, thereby, is gained profit, delight, wonder, 
 satisfaction, and everything that is in harmony with 
 our being and our eternal welfare. We come nearer 
 to our fellowman and closer to our God, in a study of 
 all creation and of created objects; and so, at least 
 thus I believe, do we fulfill better our mission here 
 upon the earth, to ''know even as we are known." 
 
 During the session of the school the Agassiz Natur- 
 al History Club met weekly for discussion of scientific 
 subjects, and for suggestions as to the work going for- 
 ward and to be pursued. Here teacher and pupil met 
 upon equal footing and freely discussed all questions. 
 Even practical Professor Meyer became eminently 
 scientific and, at a suggestion, turned his physics to 
 the settling of many an otherwise abstruce problem. 
 Of one in particular, namely, that of testing, by act- 
 ual experiment, if insects could hear with their anten- 
 nae that delicate organ of the functions of which we 
 know so little. He so arranged a male mosquito, 
 upon one of the slides of his lantern, that he threw its 
 image, enlarged several thousand times, upon a large 
 white sheet. Then he vibrated tuning forks near to 
 
94 PENIKESE. 
 
 them, and, by noting the antennae of the insect, we 
 were enabled both to propound and to answer ques- 
 tions that would otherwise have puzzled the ablest 
 scientists. 
 
 Thus passed our days! The last, as prolific of in- 
 terest as the first. Alas! They no longer exist, save 
 in the memory of teacher and of pupil. 
 
 But a few words more, and the gleam of the candle, 
 growing fainter and fainter, leaves darkness once 
 again. Darkness, I say; yes, darkness save for the 
 memory of that gleam: A. RECOLLECTION. 
 
 The Agassiz Society of Natural History met, for the 
 last time, in the lecture room, Monday evening, Au- 
 gust 3 1 st. 
 
 Its business was simply "to consider the resolution 
 drawn up by the committee," appointed for this pur- 
 pose at a previous meeting, "on the death of Profes- 
 sor Louis Agassiz." It was accepted by the club, "as 
 an expression from the club, of their sympathy with 
 the friends of, and their love and respect for, the pro- 
 fessor taken from among them so suddenly." The 
 resolution was as follows: 
 
 "WHEREAS, it has been decided that we, the mem- 
 bers of the Agassiz Natural History Club, attempt 
 an expression, in resolution, of our feelings upon 
 the departure of our beloved leader, and our sym- 
 pathy in this great bereavement with the many who 
 have learned to speak his name in the accents of 
 tenderness and affection, therefore, it is 
 "RESOLVED, That in the close of the grand life of Pro- 
 fessor Louis Agassiz we mourn the loss of a good 
 citizen, an earnest student, a great teacher, a faith- 
 ful friend, a true Christian, a lover of his fellow- 
 men and of God; that, though words utterly fail to 
 express the estimation in which we hold his noble 
 example and teachings, we may yet show to the 
 world our appreciation of the light that is gone in 
 our works and lives, and that from the bottoms of 
 our hearts we do sympathize with all to whom his 
 memory is dear." 
 
EVOLUTION. 95 
 
 On the i4th of December, 1878, in the sixty-sixth 
 year of his age, Professor Agassiz passed away. 
 
 A boulder from his beloved Alps alone marks his 
 resting-place at Auburn, city of the dead: while 
 lilies bloom about him (white lilies-of-the-valley, are 
 they); the birds and insects make music above him; 
 and, while the world endures, his memory shall not 
 fade. 
 
 The story is ended by the recent notice of the com- 
 plete destruction, by fire, of the school buildings, 
 which can now be viewed by picture only. Alas, in- 
 deed! Penikese Island is but a memory! 
 
RETURN 
 
 LOAN PERIOD 1 
 
 2 7 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 
 
 DUE AS STAMPED BELOW 
 
 
 
 
 [NTERUBRARY 
 
 LOAN 
 
 
 APR 5 
 
 n 
 
 
 IKIlW O^ t A4ari-P 
 
 BSRK. 
 
 
 
 
 
 iKHTRLiBRAR 
 
 r' LOA^ 
 
 
 IWltnuwi^" 
 
 rrn n ^ 
 
 QQ?1 
 
 
 Fttt ,vi J 
 
 j^.^ i*^ * 
 
 13;?i- 1 
 
 
 IINIV.*^ ^ 
 
 
 
 INTERLIB 
 
 ^AKY LOAN 
 
 
 SEP 3 
 
 019itfJ 
 
 
 UNIV. OF f 
 
 ftU* RFRK. 
 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY 
 
 FORM NO. DDO, 15m f 2/84 BERKELEY, CA 94720 
 
 $