The Chautauquan, Vol. 03, June 1883Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
History
The Chautauquan, Vol. 03, June 1883
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
Chautauqua Institution -- Periodicals; Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle -- Periodicals
The eggs of the tern alluded to furnished the opportunity for a lesson.
A sufficient number of these eggs were opened and prepared to enable
students to master the methods and learn what to observe. The manner
in which Agassiz first taught a group of inquirers this interesting
lesson, was an event to be remembered. It was in the open air. The
question as to method was asked. Eggs were brought; the professor
seated himself upon a convenient keg of nails, and the observers stood
about him. He first showed in what position the egg should be held, and
then with delicate and patient manipulation, he removed the shell in
minute pieces at the right spot, and revealed the marvelous structure
within, all the while accompanying his work with sparkling thoughts in
delightful words.
Another lesson was the constant and patient observation of the motions
and habits of living specimens in the aquarium. Often a student would
sit all day long watching a single specimen, and did not find such work
either irksome, uninteresting or unprofitable.
It has been remarked that the career of original investigation with
Agassiz measurably closed soon after his coming to America, and
his career as an instructor began. He turned his attention to the
development of the natural history of America. This he saw clearly
could not be done without the aid of trained naturalists, and there
were none in America. It was then his mission to create them. The
establishment of a complete museum, to which all students of natural
history could have access, was the first step; a museum which should
not only equal, but surpass the great museums of the Old World. The
design, according to Agassiz’s own plan, was so far completed before
his death, that what remained to be done could be as well done by his
trained assistants. He had stamped his own character and ideas upon
it indelibly. Prof. Tyndall declared that there was nothing like it
in the Old World. Another equally qualified to judge, familiar with
all the Old World museums, declared that nowhere in his travels had
he seen such an amount of original work done as here. The museum at
Cambridge is an institution peculiarly American in that it is arranged
without the trammels of Old World methods. In it every specimen is
labeled with the name, locality, date and donor securely fastened to
it, and the same duly recorded. A specimen concerning which, from
whatever cause, any uncertainty has arisen as to the locality, is
rejected, and consigned to the laboratory for dissection, only the
best attainable specimens are retained. Unnecessary or imperfect
duplicates are set aside for study or exchange. His completed plan
will present a collection of the animals of the world arranged
systematically, according to the principle of classification adopted
by Agassiz, and exhibiting their structure. This is supplemented by
minor collections showing embryonic development of the different
types of animal life, synthetic relations, etc.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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