LOUIS AGASSIZ 143 



the members of that body were paying 

 their annual visit to the Museum, seems 

 to have left them cold. At least they did 

 not go into executive session on the steps 

 of the Museum and vote the money. 

 Such practical performance was left for 

 Mr. John Anderson, a rich merchant of 

 New York, who read the appeal in the 

 evening papers, and promptly offered 

 Agassiz the island of Penikese (one of 

 the smaller Elizabeth Islands), with the 

 house and barn then standing upon it, 

 and fifty thousand dollars. With such 

 a windfall, Agassiz was not the man to 

 postpone his school because the architects 

 talked of "simple impossibility." This 

 was in May. He announced the opening 

 for July 8 5 on July 5 the dormitory 

 had no floors and no roof to speak of. 



"The next day was Sunday. Agassiz 

 called the carpenters together. He told 

 them that the scheme was neither for 

 money nor for the making of money ; 

 no personal gain was involved in it. It 



