518 ZOOLOGY 



Summer had long wished to carry on his teaching by the sea, 

 Penikese where marine life could be studied in its natural envi- 

 ronment. A plan was formed for a summer school 

 of natural history, a biological station. Today the 

 idea is commonplace, but then it was a wonderful new 

 experiment. The island of Penikese, off the coast of 

 Massachusetts, was offered for his use, together with 

 a considerable sum of money. On July 8, 1873, 

 surrounded by a carefully chosen group of students, 

 men and women, Agassiz opened the Penikese school. 

 Mrs. Agassiz relates that "as he looked upon his 

 pupils gathered there to study nature with him, by an 

 impulse as natural as it was unpremeditated, he 

 called upon them to join in silently asking God's 

 blessing on their work together." Whittier has im- 

 mortalized this moment in a poem : 



On the isle of Penikese, 

 Ringed about by sapphire seas, 

 Fanned by breezes salt and cool, 

 Stood the Master with his school. 



Said the Master to the youth : 

 "We have come in search of truth, 

 Trying with uncertain key 



Door by door of mystery ; 



***** 



We are groping here to find 



What the hieroglyphics mean 



Of the Unseen in the seen, 



What ,the Thought which underlies 



Nature's masking and disguise, 



What it is that hides beneath 



Blight and bloom and birth and death. 



By past efforts unavailing, 



Doubt and error, loss and failing, 



Of our weakness made aware, 



On the threshold of our task 



Let us light and guidance ask, 



Let us pause in silent prayer!" 



