THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION 



in 



AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION' 



Established 1S75 Incorporated, Massachusetts, 1892 Incorporated, Connecticut, 1910 



WANTED: AN ASSEMBLY HALL. 



For Nature Lectures and Exhibitions 



Free to the Public. 



During; two weeks of the coldest 

 weather last winter, more than four 

 hundred people, of all ages, visited 

 Arcadia to see two tablespoonfuls of 

 spawn transform into embryo trout. 

 More than fifty of these visitors came 

 on one of the stormiest and coldest 

 days of the season, but they all felt 

 well rewarded for their efforts. Some 

 even published letters of appreciation 

 in the papers of Stamford and Green- 

 wich. If this one little phase of nature, 

 visible at an unfavorable time, with the 

 exhibition held in an overcrowded 

 room, can thus attract the public, how 

 much more might other exhibitions of 

 nature's doings be appreciated in good 

 weather and in favorable circum- 

 stances. 



How many of these interested per- 

 sons know why a leaf is green? If we 

 had proper facilities, we could give 

 you ocular demonstration of the grains 

 of chlorophyl. How many know any- 

 thing of any of the life-processes of 

 the plants that they cultivate? If we 

 had a hall with projection equipment, 

 we could give you ocular demonstra- 

 tion of the movements of the "physical 

 basis of life," the protoplasm, within 

 the cells of certain plants. How many 

 know that every plant is built up of 

 cells, or what a cell is? We could give 

 to several people at one time ocular 

 demonstration of plant and animal 

 structure and activities if we had the 

 room. 



During all of April and May we have 

 had many visitors ; we should like to 

 have more. One day I was at the 

 hatchery and the microscope table from 

 9.00 A. M. until 11.00 P. M. instruct- 

 ing and entertaining visitors. Some 

 days all our rooms have been crowded. 



It is not unusual to have from forty 

 to fifty visitors at one time. It is ut- 

 terly impossible to give each individual 

 attention and do justice to the subject. 

 In this town of Greenwich there are 

 4,600 children and 11,863 adults. In 

 nearby Stamford there are 6,502 chil- 

 dren and 22,334 adults — a total of 45, 

 299. If I give only an hour's attention 

 to each, and have two visiting days 

 a week, eight hours a day, I can, by 

 this individual method, receive person- 

 ally only 832 a year, thus needing more 

 than fifty-four years to reach each per- 

 son for one hour. We want to reach 

 more people in less time, and I do not 

 expect to live over 108 years more in 

 order to have the second visit from 

 all! 



We need an Assembly Hall, where 

 demonstrations can be made to several 

 at one time. We need all our present 

 rooms for progressive, original work. 

 They are full of equipments. We wel- 

 come the public, and for that reason 

 make this appeal for the necessary 

 room for exhibitions. 



To show these interesting objects 

 directly to each caller is effort not 

 used to best advantage. No two per- 

 sons have exactly the same foci to their 

 eyes. The microscope focused for me 

 may not be best focused for any one 

 else. I see one thing, and in the same 

 object you will not see what I want 

 you to see, unless you can adjust the 

 instrument, as you probably cannot. 

 We want to make exhibitions to sev- 

 eral people at one time, and we will 

 if we have an Assembly Hall. We ask 

 for $1,600 with which to build it. The 

 foundations are completed and paid for. 

 The lectures, to be given by various 

 naturalists, WILL BE FREE TO 

 THE PUBLIC. We want to show 

 life processes. We want mosquitoes 

 magnified on the screen ; flies' tongues 



