ARCADIA PAGl" 



IX 



What is in the Name "ArcAdiA"? 



'A\ hy .lo you spell Akc \i)iA with three 

 capital A's?" 



Answer: "JJecause that is its name. " 

 'A\hy did you give it a name that re- 

 quires that unusual spelling? W hy did 

 you not call it merely Arcadia without 

 the three capitals?" 



These questions in various forms have 

 >come from many readers and from local 

 friends. 



We selected ArcAdiA, with the special 

 spelling', much against our will, because 

 we recognized that it might be regarded 

 as freakish and as breaking the rules of 

 orthograph}-, but, after careful considera- 

 tion, we were unable to find another word 

 that would exactly express our idea. 



If w^e were to take the word as it was 

 originally used, and as it is now used in 

 many places, it would be far from ex- 

 pressing the complete idea and the funda- 

 mental principle for which this ArcAdiA 

 stands. The old Greek Arcadia is de- 

 fined as "a picturesque district of Greece, 

 inhabited by a simple, pastoral people, 

 distinguished for contentment and rural 

 happiness. Hence, any region or scene 

 of simple pleasure, rustic innocence and 

 tuitroubled quiet." The inhabitants 

 were "fond of music and dancing," and 

 the god of Arcadia was Pan. 



We like the picturesque beauty, the 

 simplicity, the contentment and the rural 

 happiness ; we like the simple pleasures 

 and the untroubled quiet, but that is far 

 from all we wanted to exi:)ress. There 

 are thousands of households in rural dis- 

 tricts that live in simplicity and content- 

 ment. 



We had no thought of transferring that 

 Greek name to our Institution, for the 

 word expresses only a part of what we 

 would have it imply. We see no way to 

 use the word in its original form and to 

 add the qualities that we wish these head- 

 quarters of The Agassiz .\ssociation to 

 represent. Most persons forget that 



Arcadia was presided over by the mytho- 

 logical Pan. The Arcadia of Greece 

 w^as coarsely atheistic. It was presided 

 over by an imaginary god of pasture, 

 flock and field. He was represented with 

 the body and head of an elderly man, 

 the hind quarters, the horns and the ears 

 of a goat. Terror was ascribed to him, 

 and from his qualifications we get our 

 modern word, panic. 



The essential element of this Institu- 

 tion is to take fear out of the heart and to 

 show young and old that there is nothing 

 to fear from that old mythological panic 

 point of view. The aim of this Sound 

 Beach .A.rcAdiA is to inspire love for 

 nature through investig'ation and thor- 

 ough study. We have no cognizance of 

 an imaginary god that may, for his own 

 amusement, throw us into a panic when 

 the thunder growls in the distance or the 

 wind lashes the trees ; we accept God as 

 our guide and leader. Our nymphs are 

 Love. Study, Interest, Enthusiasm and 

 Reautv. \\'e therefore do not want to 

 take the term .Vrcadia with what it con- 

 tai'.is. We should like to lead the simple 

 life and enjoy a nearness to nature with- 

 out the atheism and the periodical panic. 

 We cannot use the word to signify what 

 the Greek Arcadia signified. So we will 

 incorporate into it the scholarly, religious 

 spirit of that grand man, Louis Agassiz, 

 for whom our Association is named. In 

 his memory it stands, not only for sim- 

 plicitv and innocence, not only for pas- 

 toral beauty, but for a sincere behef in 

 a living Deity, and for an intellectual and 

 heartfelt interest in nature that shall 

 combine that interest in nature with an 

 interest in religion. Agassiz said. "A 

 phvsical fact is as sacred as a moral prin- 

 ciple." We wanted a name to represent 

 all this, and we must therefore have it 

 somewdiat like a monogram. We have 

 selected ArcAdtA. It embodies the old 

 idea and the new. If anvhody can suggest 

 another word that will embrace these 

 aualifications and express the idea of sim- 

 Ttlicitv and of innocent happiness, com- 



