54 PENIKESE. 



Of it he said: "The Scup is not found north of 

 Cape Cod, neither is it found extensively in South- 

 ern waters. The American coast does not furnish 

 many species of this family, though they are com- 

 mon in the Mediterrean and are called Sparoids." 

 He then gave us the names of the fins and facial 

 bones of fishes. Professor Agassiz was always care- 

 ful as to the books which he recommended for our 

 perusal. Upon the jelly fishes he noticed but two: 

 Allman's "Monograph of English Jelly Fjshes," 

 and Edward Forbes' "Medusae." 



We come now to perhaps the most interesting por- 

 tion of Professor Agassiz's lectures, and those which 

 embody his own original and personal work. They 

 are given in as nearly the exact phraseology as it 

 was possible to obtain them, and commenced some 

 what as follows: 



"Nothing is more difficult than to present a sub- 

 ject whose evidence is incomplete. Regarding the 

 aqueous or other origin of our island, its geological 

 formation does not present sufficient evidence for us 

 to form an opinion as to that origin that is capable of 

 being sustained. There are, at the present day, 

 many false views of great scientific questions held for 

 want of sufficient evidence to assert the truth. One 

 fact is but a small part of the whole evidence. A 

 great deal of our knowledge, even at the present day, 

 is traced back to Aristotle. The sources of true 

 knowledge are very few. Christianity has, in a 

 measure, prevented the advance of science. It has 

 made us believe, and many are satisfied with that. 

 Science, generally, hates beliefs. 



"In 1836 I first felt an interest in these things. I 

 began to investigate everything. I was at the foot 

 of the Alps, when I found that the shepherds had a 

 theory that the masses of rock, everywhere to be seen 

 about them, had been brought down to their present pos- 

 ition by what were then known asgtariers. An eminent 

 civil-engineer, who was then present, held the same 



