32 THE FACE OF THE FIELDS 



lege professor of mine, who told me a few of the 

 particulars of his turtle contributions, particulars 

 which Agassiz should have found a place for in 

 his big book. The preface, in another paragraph, 

 says merely that this gentleman sent turtles to 

 Cambridge by the thousands brief and scanty 

 recognition ! For that is not the only thing this 

 gentleman did. On one occasion he sent, not 

 turtles, but turtle eggs to Cambridge brought 

 them, I should say ; and all there is to show for 

 it, so far as I could discover, is a sectional draw- 

 ing of a bit of the mesoblastic layer of one of the 

 eggs! 



Of course, Agassiz wanted to make that meso- 

 blastic drawing, or some other equally important 

 drawing, and had to have the fresh turtle egg to 

 draw it from. He had to have it, and he got it. 

 A great man, when he wants a certain turtle egg, 

 at a certain time, always gets it, for he gets some 

 one else to get it. I am glad he got it. But what 

 makes me sad and impatient is that he did not 

 think it worth while to tell about the getting of 

 it, and so made merely a learned turtle book of 

 what might have been an exceedingly interesting 

 human book. 



