[8 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



Appreciation of the Agassiz Method. 



East Orange, New Jersey. 

 To the Editor: 



In reading through the pamphlet on 

 The Agassiz Association, I was very 

 much struck with the picture of the 

 Professor at the blackboard with a 

 piece of chalk in his hand. After my 



AGASSIZ AS A TEACHER. 



graduation in medicine I spent a most 

 delightful season in Cambridge at the 

 Museum of Zoology, the pet scheme 

 of Agassiz, then run by his successors 

 upon the plan set down by the founder. 

 One of the most interesting and lik- 

 able men I met there was Count de 

 Pourtales, who showed me particular 

 attention in a thousand ways, embody- 

 ing in all his teachings the simplicity 

 of his master whom he followed from 

 France. The methods of teaching were 

 entirely new to me, contrasting strange- 

 ly with accustomed book study. My 

 Waterloo surely stared me in the face 

 when the Count placed a starfish in front 

 of me, a notebook and pencil, with the 

 remark, "Write down what you see!" 

 For one whole morning I did not see 

 anything but blankness, but gradually it 

 dawned upon me what they wanted, and 

 I must say that the old notebook, crude 

 as it was, is the most cherished posses- 



sion I have, for it always awakens mem- 

 ories of those most delightful days 

 when I was taught to see. 



I lived in the atmosphere that seemed 

 to be a part of Agassiz's exhaustless 

 spirit, and the exponent of that spirit in 

 a large degree was Count de Pourtales. 



It would be impossible for me to recall 

 any incidents that could be fixed upon as 

 carrying out the idea formulated by Ag- 

 assiz, but the whole general tone of the 

 school was that of seeing for yourself. 

 It was plodding work, not very much 

 accomplished each day, but the constant 

 effort to do something yourself really 

 brought results eventually. 



This incident has no public interest, 

 but I clearly remember dissecting an 

 alcoholic specimen of a Brazilian fish 

 one warm morning, when Alexander 

 Agassiz came through the laboratory 

 accompanied by Dom Pedro, the then 

 Emperor. I can find no reason why 

 he should have stopped at my table 

 and asked what I was doing, but he 

 did, and I had the pleasure of telling 

 him that I was studying one of his own 

 country's fishes, which seemed to 

 please him mightily, for he continued 

 to ask me questions, some of which I 

 could answer, others I "let go by the 

 board." 



There was great informality in every- 

 thing done in the school, no rigid rules 

 for conduct, but nevertheless there was 

 apparently an unwritten code that 

 kept the room in a quiet state that made 

 for study and contemplation. For it 

 did seem as though at times one's 

 thoughts were looking through and 

 away beyond the specimen under study, 

 speculating upon many and wondrous 

 things suggested by the subject. 



This I apprehend was what the 

 master was looking for, to see if he 

 could instill that spirit of the imagi- 

 nation that could carry you back, as 

 well as forward, into the mysteries of 

 creation. You are aware of the antag- 

 onism Agassiz's views created among 

 the adherents of the evolution theory, 

 but I apprehend today, with all the 

 so-called light science can bring, that 

 neither side can be proven entirely 

 wrong. I am quite sure that evolution 

 cannot prove everything. 



I would like to refer to one particu- 

 lar faculty possessed by Louis Agassiz 

 which was highly developed, that was 



