I 8 MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY 



By the beginning of the eighteen-seventies failing health affected 

 Agassiz's usual activities. In 1871-72 he made a voyage on the 

 Coast Survey steamer " Hassler" to California, hoping to come home 

 with renewed vigor and supervise the rearrangement of the Mu- 

 seum collections in the new part of the wing, then under construc- 

 tion. Defects in the apparatus limited the results of the expedition. 

 Nevertheless, Agassiz on his return wrote to one of his assistants in 

 Europe — "The collections made during the Hassler Expedition are 

 simply splendid. We have brought home 265 barrels, or boxes of 

 specimens; averaging nearly one per day of our working time." 



The death of Agassiz in 1873 found four-fifths of the wing of the 

 Museum completed. It was crowded beyond belief, and had an in- 

 come of only Si 0,000. The future of the institution did not seem 

 bright; it looked as if it might share the fate of so many great under- 

 takings and perish with its founder. But his son Alexander Agassiz, 

 to whom the management fell, thought otherwise. The latter was 

 not only a man of science, but also, unlike his father, an unusually 

 able executive and successful mining man. Through filial affection 

 he put his shoulder to the wheel to preserve the Museum, and for the 

 rest of his life devoted much of his energies, and a good slice of his 

 fortune, towards its development. He collected an endowment fund, 

 to which he subscribed liberally, besides from year to year making 

 good any deficiency in the running expenses. 



In 1876 it was found advisable to discontinue the joint control of 

 the Commonwealth and the College in the affairs of the Museum. 

 By legislative act it was turned over to the University and its man- 

 agement rested in a Faculty of five, including the President of the 

 College and the Director of the Museum. 



Alexander Agassiz completed the Museum of Comparative 

 Zoology as it now stands. In 1B77 he built the remainder of the 

 North wing; in 1883-84, the Northwest corner-piece; and in 1890-91 

 a further continuation of the facade. 



He made nearly a score of oceanographic expeditions to many dis- 

 tant seas, and brought back vast quantities of material which greatly 

 enriched the Museum collections. Among the most important of 

 these explorations were: three cruises of the "Blake," 1877-80, in the 

 Atlantic and Caribbean; three cruises of the "Albatross," 1891, 

 1 899-1 900, 1904-05, covering vast regions of the Pacific; an ex- 



