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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



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AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION 



Established 1875 Incorporated, Massachusetts, 1892 Incorporated, Connecticut, 1910 



An Active Chapter of the Agassiz 



Association in Acton Vale, 



Quebec, Canada. 



We have received the annual report 

 of the Acton Vale A Chapter No. 15. 

 The Chapter is one of the most faithful 

 on our list, although it has an enroll- 

 ment of only fourteen members. The 

 President tells us that most of these 

 live at a great distance from Acton 

 Vale, but that they desire to hold their 

 connection with The Agassiz Associa- 

 tion. The detailed program for the 

 year is too long for publication, but it 

 presents a varied and interesting course 

 of work and entertainment. We note 

 that at one meeting the feature of in- 

 terest was the reading of Professor 

 Sharp's "Turtle eggs for Agassiz." 

 The story was originally published in 

 "The Atlantic Monthly," and was in 

 part republished in our magazine. It 

 is well worth reading by every member 

 of the AA. 



Addresses have been made before the 

 Chapter on the grasshopper, the Eng- 

 lish sparrow and the Caspian Sea, and 

 a chemist has described the way in 

 which cast iron is changed into steel 

 in a blast furnace. One evening was 

 devoted to whales. It was stated that 

 last year one firm captured, in the Pa- 

 cific Ocean, one hundred and forty-six 

 of these huge mammals. One evening 

 was devoted to the brown tail moth. 

 One of the most interesting sessions 

 was that of last July, when extended 

 consideration was given to the house 

 fly, which has been rightly named by 

 Dr. L. O. Howard, the typhoid fly. 



In the August meeting, an extended 

 paper was read on the albino porcu- 

 pine. In November, Mr. E. R. Tanner 

 gave an interesting account of a fish- 

 ing excursion on Lake St. Francis, near 

 Lancaster, Ontario. He captured a 

 maskinonge measuring forty-five 



inches in length, and weighing thirty- 

 four pounds. 



We note with pleasure that the 

 President and his wife have accepted 

 an invitation to accompany their niece 

 and nephew on a trip to Europe this 

 spring. The President adds this inter- 

 esting statement: "During our ab- 

 sence, The Agassiz Association shall 

 not be forgotten, but efforts will be 

 made to gather items of interest for 

 the Association." 



An Interesting AA Lecture. 



One evening recently the Springfield 

 Training School Chapter of the AA 

 and a few friends, were entertained by 

 Professor G. B. Affleck, the leader of 

 the Chapter, .with an illustrated lecture 

 on "The Form of Water." This lec- 

 ture revealed to us the marvels and the 

 wonderful beauty to be found in those 

 commonplace things of nature, rain 

 drops and dewdrops, clouds and crys- 

 tals, hoarfrost and snowflakes. In these 

 things some of nature's exquisite forms 

 were portrayed. While others are 

 grumbling about the condition of the 

 weather, the optimist, with an eye that 

 can pierce the rough cover of nature, 

 sees only the best side of life, and is 

 the better man for it. 



This lecture was the result of many 

 hours and days of patient, painstaking 

 work. It meant many hours of wait- 

 ing and watching for the different 

 forms to appear, and often then the 

 spoiling of many plates in attempts to 

 take the pictures. 



The means of nature's irrigation plan 

 were considered. How by evapora- 

 tion, diffusion, transportation and sub- 

 sequent condensation, water is carried 

 from place to place, and moisture sup- 

 plied to districts often far from any 

 flowing stream. 



The first pictures showed the vari- 

 ous forms of clouds, the stratus, the 



