74 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



m&&€H€ €C<Z<KKCCC<Z & < CC C <<& CC*<<K«i^^^ 



i "•....... — - j 1 Tl C ; ### : 



AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION' 



Personal Explanatory Note: — Only the adult interests in nature and the business 

 details of organizing Chapters are represented by this department. Original observa- 

 tions and inquiries from young folks (under eighteen years of age) are referred to my 

 department ("Nature and Science") in the "St. Nicholas" magazine, published by The 

 Century Company, New York City. — Edward F. Bigelow. 



"How to Adapt the Society to the 

 Need." 

 When Dr. E. P. Bigelow recently took the 

 presidency of the Agassiz Association every- 

 body felt that the development of that insti- 

 tution would not proceed along conventional 

 lines and they have not been mistaken. Dr. 

 Bigelow bristles with unique ideas that are 

 likely to make people interested in nature- 

 study sit up and take notice. His latest 

 venture is "Arcadia" a collection of portable 

 buildings in Sound Beach, Conn., in which 

 he purposes carrying on various experiments 

 connected with the work of the Agassiz 

 Association. The fund for this purpose have 

 been furnished by a philanthropist too 

 modest to give his name, but the aid is none 

 the less substantial because of this. When 

 the Agassiz Association was first started, 

 there were practically no books of a popular 

 nature by which a student, working alone, 

 could get an insight into the phase of natural 

 history that attracted him, but with the in- 

 crease of science-teaching in the schools 

 and the issuing of a vast number of books 

 on every conceivable phase of nature, the 

 need for a society like the Agassiz Associa- 

 tion was less urgent and there was a general 

 falling off in membership. We are of the 

 opinion, however, that there is still, a 

 decided need for something of the kind and 

 that Dr. Bigelow will find out how to adapt 

 the society to the need. If "Arcadia" proves 

 to be a success after two vears trial, it will 

 become a permanent feature: if not, we may 

 exnect Dr. Bigelow to originate something 

 else as novel. More than twenty thousand 

 boys and girls have been heloed over hard 

 places by the Aeassiz Association. Among 

 them was the editor of this magazine who 

 remembers with nleasure and gratitude his 

 connection with it and he could wish no 

 better fortune for the ri«ing generation than 

 that it, too, mav discover the delights of 

 memhershio. T^e American Fern Society, 

 the Sullivant Moss Chanter, and the Grav 

 Memorial Botanical Chanter, all had their 

 origin in t^ old Aorassiz Association.. — "The 

 American Botanist." 



T am sincerely Grateful for this notice 

 which is evidently designed to be com- 

 olirhentary. But it is not wholly a 



erroneous idea of The Agassiz Asso- 

 ciation. It is the mission of the AA to 

 advance a knowledge and increase a 

 love of nature that is in cooperation 

 and sympathy with the systematic 

 science of the schools (of all grades 

 from kindergarten to university) yet 

 is entirely distinct from their methods. 



Again, and even more important, the 

 AA is the more needed as the books on 

 nature are increased in number. If our 

 knowledge of nature has been limited 

 to the nature of the books, the more 

 do we need to follow Louis Agassiz's 

 advice, "Study nature, not books." 



Further, on the supposition that a 

 knowledge and love of nature has been 

 increased by "science-teaching in the 

 schools" and "the issuing of a vast 

 number of books," then more than ever 

 is the A A needed to teach the pupil 

 how to observe when unaided by the 

 teacher's presence, how to compare 

 two closely similar objects, how to 

 make his own decisions unaided except 

 by his own mentality and cerebral 

 acuteness, how, in a word, to stand 

 upright on his own feet and to help 

 himself. A book can do none of these 

 things. A book may help, as a sharp 

 axe in the hands of a skillful woods- 

 man may help to build a city by felling 

 a tree in a primeval forest, but one axe 

 and one man will not build the town. 



To illustrate : — The wider the dis- 

 semination and demand for religious 

 books, the greater the number of suc- 

 cessful evangelists and the greater the 

 interest and efficiency of churches. 

 Or, to change the comparison, the 

 more music books and music teachers, 

 the more effective our musical so- 



joy, because it expresses a common yet cieties will become. 



