THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION 



355 



bers are free to do things in their own 

 way — be it much or little, 'lake the 

 things at hand and investigate in your 

 own way. Long ago, iong before the 

 reader came into existence, the Rev- 

 erend J. G. Wood said: "So richly 

 does nature teem with beauty and liv- 

 ing marvels, that even within the clos- 



est dungeon walls a 



never failing 



treasury ol science may be tound. 

 . . The annals of an obscure village 

 in Hampshire have long risen into a 

 standard work, merely by virtue of the 

 close and trustworthy observations 

 made by a resident in the place ; . . . 

 . and many most curious and valu- 

 able original observations now com- 

 mitted to my note-book, were made 

 by an old lady in her daily perambula- 

 tion of a little scrap of a back yard in 

 the suburbs of London, barely twelve 

 yards long by four wide. . . . There 

 is not a mote that dances in the sun- 

 beam, not a particle of dust that we 

 tread heedlessly below our feet, that 

 does not contain within its form mines 



of knowledge as yet unworked." 



Any Chapter may participate in a 

 public parade behind a band of music, 

 may wear broadcloth or calico, may 

 sing songs around a bonfire, hold a 

 fair, or publicly act a Shakespearean 

 play. It all depends on local circum- 

 stances and individual preferences. 

 Some of our Chapters find it profitable 

 to do some or all of these things, but 

 there are no such requirements, no 

 such code of instructions issued from 

 the Home Office. Every member and 

 every Chapter is as unrestricted in so- 

 cial matters as in methods of observa- 

 tion. 



When members of The Agassiz As- 

 sociation go to walk, they are not 

 sharp eyed with one eye and blind in 

 the other. "Everything is 'fish' that 

 comes to the net of a naturalist." A 

 bird is indeed of interest but so is the 

 tree through which it flies or where 

 it sings its song. 



The Agassiz Association seeks to 

 develop mind and heart. It appeals 



IN THE WELCOME RECEPTION ROOM. 

 The present President receiving a new Chapter (the Putnam Chapter of Greenwich) into the 

 forty years young Association. 



Holding the leaves of the Agassiz Vucca. and standing under the light of the Swiss Cross, the 

 oncers and members of the Chapter repeat together as they receive the Charter: "May we be 

 inspired by the life of Louis Agassiz to enthusiastically study nature." 



