Agassiz at 



EOPTIP, as fiie result of tho first year's work, than to 

 have $2,000 with which to buy a largo collection. 



When you are collecting, ho suro to make a careful 

 record of the locality from which each specimen is 

 obtained. In this way you can do good work for 

 science by assisting in the determination of the 

 geographical distribution of animals. A specimen, 

 tho locality of which is not known, has but little 

 scientific value. Every specimen in the Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology is a genuine specimen, the 

 locality, donor, date, &c. of all being carefully 

 recorded. 



The first thine: to be determined about a new speci- 

 men is not its name, but its most prominent charac- 

 ter. We can study the plan of the radiates, we can 

 learn the type, from onp specimen as well as from 

 another, or from many. ' It is unnecessary to know 

 a ffreat variety in order to know many. 



Peicikcse. 



49 



THE BKST BOOKS. 



DIRECTIONS FOR SELECTING BOOKS FOR 



STUDY. 



A CRITICISM ON PUBLIC LIBRARIES RARITY OF 

 WORKS OP VALUE ON NATURAL HISTORY TOO 

 MANY COOKS ARE MERE COMPILATIONS. 



Though Prof. Agassiz was strenuous in his efforts to 

 encourage original research and immediate acquaint- 

 ance with Nature, he did not overlook the value of 

 books. His word? of direction and warning in this 

 respect are of greav importance to the student. 



My design, he said, is not to exclude from y<rir at- 

 tention all books whatsoever, but to deter you from 

 reading the host of worthless books upon Natural 

 History which were written hastily by men who 

 knew little or nothing of the subject, and mainly 

 to make money. If I can teach you to discriminate 

 between those things worthless and those valuable 

 in books, I shall have accomplished very much. Not 

 every report of facts is correct. I have nothing to 

 say against infallible creeds, but a graat deal to say 

 against infallible science. The best books for study 

 are monographs from men who have made the in- 

 vestigation of a single branch the vrork of a life- 

 time. Take the jelly-fishes, for instance. They 

 have been well studied ; but tho most valuable lit- 

 erature on this subject is contained in foreign lan- 

 guages. We have one good work by Dr. Alinoas in 

 English, and a beautiful monograph of the naked- 

 eyed medusae by Edward Forbes. 



What we need is books of this kind, which shall 

 be accessible to students. There is not in this coun- 

 try a library where a student of science, acquainted 

 with his subject, can resort, confident that he shall 

 find what he needs. Of course I do not speak of the 

 incompleteness of libraries in tho department of 



history or general literature. Th,i people are libcra 

 but they do not know this need, and therefore it h;,.j 

 not been supplied. I look to you for help in form- 

 ing libraries. To you more than to any one else we 

 must look for improvement in this direction. We 

 have a fine library at Washington, the library of 

 Congress, yet in its scientific department it is com- 

 plete only in one particular, that of scientific periodi- 

 cals. It has records of the transactions of scientific 

 and learned societies in all parts of the world. In 

 Philadelphia thorn is a good library of zoology, 

 valuable in the department of birds, but deficient iu 

 other departments. The Boston Society has a good mis- 

 cellaneous library. Our Museum library at Cambridge 

 has a good collection of books on fossils. But thcra 

 is nowhere a complete scientific library, and only a 

 half dozen of thosa which pretend to be such 

 libraries are fit to be studied at all. Thousands of 

 Worthless text-books are printed which are com- 

 piled and abridged by the scissors from better books, 

 but there are few text-books of original research. 

 We are not productive. We are used to getting our 

 information second-hand. I think it is a misforumo 

 that there are so many separata libraries, instead of 

 a few centers, where scientific books, no matter Liow 

 expensive and scientific books are expensive, and 

 it would not be wise for you to attempt to make 

 your own libraries what you might wish might be 

 collected and circulated to surrounding schools or 

 held for consultation. There need not be many 

 such centers. One would ba enough for New-En- 

 gland. As it is, we have too many separate centers 

 ol' information. It would he better if tho five col- 

 leges of Massachusetts not to go beyond that 

 State were united in one. Bven then its resources 

 would be insufficient. 



The chief difficulty with European books is that 

 only European animals are illustrated in them. Text- 

 books of zoology and botany should be made in the 

 country where they are to be used. Other and more 

 exact sciences are universal in their subjects, but 

 natural history must have different text-books for 

 each country. Those plants and animals should be 

 chosen for illustration in text-books which 

 are most common, which will meet the 

 eyes of the greatest number of students. At 

 tho same time they should be typical species, 

 such as are telling (a favorite word with tha 

 Professor) in as many directions as possible. I have 

 not the requisite knowledge of the geographical dis- 

 tribution of typical forms to enable me to make such 

 a text-book of zoology for this country. I feel my- 

 self competent for such a task, said tho Professor, 

 only in the departments of fishes and radiates. 



As a cyclopedia of Natural History, Cuvier's Ani- 

 mal Kingdom, the last illustrated edition, ia to be 

 recommended as the most trustworthy and complete. 



