THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION. 



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WHAT THE AA MEANS. 



The Agassiz Association stands for 

 the stud)- of nature from the student's 

 point of view. It is the University 

 and not the Kindergarten. Whether 

 you are four or eighty-four it says, be 

 an original investigator ; see things for 

 yourself; look into the thing, not into 

 what has been written about the thing ; 

 what you find, not what someone tells 

 you to find ; begin with nature : in the 

 words of the great scientist from 

 whom we take our name, "Study na- 

 ture, not books." The Association 

 does not stand for the Kindergarten 

 notion which says, "I will show you 

 how to play the game ; then we all 

 will play it." It does not tell you to 

 study this or that and to do it this 

 month, regardless of the fact that 

 "this" or "that" may be totally in- 

 accessible to you. 



The AA has no publishing house 

 to advertise, no list of general nature 

 study books to sell, no cuts to be se- 

 lected from its li?t of publications and 

 saying, "Study these things this 

 month," but meaning, "Buy these 

 books tins month." The AA publish- 

 es its own magazine, — The Guide to 

 Nature, — monthly, illustrated, — hajs 

 its handbooks of instruction as an or- 

 ganization, the total income from the 

 sales going to enlarge the field of its 

 activity. It is to support no Insti- 

 tution. It does not delude its mem- 

 bers into the belief that they may re- 

 ceive something for nothing. Its 

 officers have no salary. They give 

 their time and their labor, and are paid 

 by thanks. It confers honors where it 

 sees honors are especially due, but 

 never with the ulterior designs of 



some Institution or periodical adver- 

 tisement. There are no money divi- 

 dends It is an Association for mu- 

 tual helpfulness, in which every mem- 

 ber every Officer, every Councilor 

 contributes time or money, or both, to 

 further the original study of nature. 

 The A A believes that there can be no 

 highei occupation for the human mind 



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and nothing more inspiring than the 

 contemplation of some aspect of this 

 beautiful world. 



It frankly invites you and with no 

 secondary motive to join its ranks, 

 to help and to be helped, to give your 

 time and your mite of money to help 

 yourself and to help others, and to re- 

 ceive gratefully the assistance that 

 others can give you. 



