156 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. 



at the introduction to the three splendid volumes recently published 

 on the Medusae of the World by Alfred Goldsborough Mayer, where 

 the initiation and encouragement of a generous master and friend are 

 gracefully acknowledged. Many instances might be cited to show how 

 well and judiciously he applied his wealth to set agoing work which he 

 considered worth doing, not only in his own time but also in the future. 

 The large number of decorations and honours which were conferred 

 on Alexander Agassiz by governments and universities and by learned 

 societies in all parts of the world show abundantly how highly his 

 scientific labours were appreciated by his contemporaries. 



It has been truly said that man does not live by bread alone. His- 

 tory is crowded with instances illustrating the fact that men have cast 

 off this mortal coil as so much worthless dross when impelled by the 

 demands of some spiritual truth. Other men have endured the 

 greatest hardships and privations in their endeavours to create the 

 beautiful in form, in sound, or in colour. As it has been with the 

 religious and artistic spirit in the past, so is it with the modern scien- 

 tific spirit. The desire to find out the secrets of nature impels men to 

 trudge over Arctic and Antarctic ice-fields with the satisfaction of all 

 bodily requirements reduced to a minimum and burdened with a load 

 of scientific instruments. Other men expose their bodies to the at- 

 tacks of pestilential microbes for the advance of knowledge and the 

 betterment of man's estate, while Alexander Agassiz rises with diffi- 

 culty, when overwhelmed with sickness, and has his mattress laid on 

 the deck of the tossing steamer in order that he may the better record 

 the message which the dredge or trawl has brought to light from the 

 dark abysses of the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean. In such men the body 

 has truly become merely the vehicle of the soul. 



It has been said that Alexander Agassiz was a sad and reserved man. 

 It must be admitted that during the latter part of his life he was not 

 so moved by joyous impulses as in his earlier years. Those who knew 

 him well did not find him reserved, and they can testify to the great 

 pleasure he derived from a new discovery or a new view of the inter- 

 relations among natural phenomena. 



It has also been said that he did not interest himself in the deeper 

 philosophical aspects of the researches in which he was engaged. This 

 I believe to be a mistake. He professed never to engage in discus- 

 sions except where it was possible to verify one's conclusions by an 

 appeal to observation or experiment. Although he did not publish 

 papers dealing directly with philosophical subjects, still he was keenly 



