472 ANNUAL EEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1910. 



He received the honorary degree of LL. D. from Harvard in 1885 

 and from St. Andrews, Scotland, in 1901 ; Ph. D. from Bologna in 

 1888 ; and honorary Sc. D. from Cambridge in 1887. 



In 1878 he was awarded the Prix Serres by the Paris Academy, 

 being the first foreigner to be thus honored, and in 1909 he received 

 the Victoria research medal of the Royal Society of London. 



After the publication of the results of the Maldive and eastern 

 Pacific expeditions, one great and final task lay before him. This 

 was to present a summary of the results of his 25 years of study of 

 the coral reefs of the world. Five years would have been required for 

 the preparation of this crowning work, which would have borne the 

 same relation to his coral-reef studies that his " Three Cruises of the 

 Blake " did to his early deep-sea work — an epitome of the whole 

 subject. For 82 years the Agassiz father and son had been active 

 leaders in science, and he hoped for five more years of productivity. 



But this was not to be. Pie had for several years been suffering 

 from an impairment of the circulation and had retreated for rest and 

 recreation to the genial climate of Egypt and southern Europe. 



He was returning from England in the steamship Adriatic^ and 

 never did he appear to be in happier mood than upon the night of the 

 26th of March, 1910; but on the morning of the 27th he failed to 

 appear, and when his son Maximilian entered his father's cabin it 

 was seen that he had fallen into his last long sleep. Many a guarded 

 secret had the ocean revealed to him, and it was fitting that far from 

 the sight of land with only the waves around there came to him the 

 mystery of death. 



When I was young and struggling his hand befriended me and his 

 great mind gave direction to the thought of the life I have led, and 

 I think upon his spirit with gratitude and reverence, for he was my 

 master in science. 



Note. — A list of the principal scientific works of Alexander Agassiz accom- 

 panies Mr. Mayer's i"epriut of the above paper. " Including minor publications, 

 he was the author of at least 24S titles. See Charles W. Eliot, in Harvard 

 Graduates' Magazine, vol. IS, p. 603. June, 1910." — Editor. 



