148 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. 



out a disastrous fire in the mines — said to be the first time this 

 method was thus employed on a large scale. 



The first American attempt to found a zoological station at Penikese 

 having failed, he established a zoological laboratory at Newport to 

 take its place, equipping it with all the necessary appliances and 

 accommodations for twelve students. This institution was carried 

 on for twenty-five years — till it was no longer necessary owing to 

 the establishment of the Woods Hole Marine Biological Station. 



The important series of oceanographical or deep-sea investigations 

 with which his name is so closely associated have won for him the 

 gratitude of all subsequent generations of scientific workers. He 

 directed three expeditions in the Atlantic in the U. S. S. " Blake," 

 and three in the Pacific in the U. S. S. "Albatross." These dealt 

 especially with the deep-sea, and yielded an immense number of new 

 organisms and new observations concerning the physical, chemical, 

 biological, and geological conditions of the great ocean basins. Agas- 

 siz, being a practical engineer, was able to suggest many improve- 

 ments in deep-sea instruments and methods; the wire rope for 

 dredging and a modified trawl for deep-sea work were among these 

 improvements. The general account of the Atlantic expeditions is 

 published in two volumes entitled "Three Cruises of the "Blake," 

 and the general accounts of the Pacific expeditions are to be found in 

 the Bulletins and Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. 

 It would be difficult to overestimate the value of the zoological and 

 other collections amassed during these most excellent and extensive 

 explorations. 



If we can say that we now know the physical and biological condi- 

 tions of the great ocean basins in their broad general outlines — and I 

 believe we can do so — the present state of our knowledge is due to 

 the combined work and observations of a great many men belonging 

 to many nationalities, but most probably more to the work and 

 inspiration of Alexander Agassiz than to any other single man. 

 Agassiz's researches in the Atlantic resulted in very definite knowl- 

 edge concerning the submarine topography of the West Indian region 

 and of the animals inhabiting these seas at all depths — probably we 

 know more of this submarine area than of any other area of equal 

 extent in the world because of his explorations. He arrived at the 

 general result that the deep-sea animals of the Gulf of Panama were 

 more closely allied to those in the deep waters of the Caribbean Sea 

 than the Caribbean forms were to those of the deep Atlantic. Hence 



