June 9, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



875 



appeared from his pen in various Amer- 

 ican scientific journals, the subjects rang- 

 ing from the flight of lepidoptera and 

 beaver dams to the position of sandstones 

 on the shores of Lake Superior, and zoolog- 

 ical classification. 



The great majority, however, of these 

 papers deal with marine organisms, such 

 as medusffi, salpa, annelids, actinas, echino- 

 derms and various pelagic larvae. These 

 papers, as well as the fact that he pub- 

 lished in 1865, conjointly with his step- 

 mother, Mrs. E. C. Agassiz, a popular book 

 on marine life entitled "Seaside Studies 

 in Natural History," show that even in 

 his early career he was fascinated by the 

 ocean, its myriad inhabitants and their 

 conditions of existence. It could not well 

 be otherwise, considering the intellectual 

 atmosphere by which he was surrounded. 

 He took a keen interest in the explorations 

 of his friend, Pourtales, off the coasts of 

 Florida, and assisted in the description of 

 his collections. In fact Agassiz 's early 

 manhood coincided with the great renewal 

 of interest in the physical and biological 

 conditions of the great ocean basins. 

 Maury and Brooke had taught men how to 

 sound correctly the deep sea, and Maury 

 had published his "Physical Geography 

 of the Sea" and a depth chart of the whole 

 North Atlantic. Bailey had examined 

 microscopically the deep-sea deposits un- 

 der the gulf stream; Pourtales had dis- 

 cussed the formation of green-sand in the 

 same deposits, and the older Agassiz had 

 pointed out the bearing of these new facts 

 on the question of the permanence of con- 

 tinents and ocean basins. The observa- 

 tions of Loven and Michael Sars had 

 shown that, if there was a zero of life in 

 the great oceans, it must lie at a much 

 greater depth than Forbes had indicated 

 from his observations in the Mediter- 

 ranean. Wallich, Huxley and Haeckel 



had expounded their views on the habitat 

 of the Globigerinse, the shells of which cov- 

 ered the floor of the ocean, and of some 

 organisms brought up from a great depth 

 on sounding lines. The renowned "Ba- 

 thybius" had been described as a living 

 carpet on the ocean-floor and was accepted 

 by the scientifle world. Wyville Thom- 

 son, Jeffreys and Carpenter had conducted 

 deep-sea explorations in the Lightning, Por- 

 cupine and Shearwater, capturing in great 

 depths crinoids, irregular sea urchins and 

 other marine creatures which were remin- 

 iscent of fossil forms. 



All these fresh and striking facts, and 

 the speculations connected therewith, must 

 have been present in the mind of the 

 young naturalist when recovering from his 

 severe illness in 1869. One can well 

 imagine how earnestly he desired to take 

 an active part in the new explorations and 

 investigations which were either then be- 

 ing carried out or were projected for the 

 near future. At this time an unexpected 

 occurrence enabled him to realize a long 

 wished-for opportunity of visiting and ex- 

 amining the echini collections in European 

 museums and of becoming personally ac- 

 quainted with the British naturalists then 

 engaged in oceanographical work and 

 deep-sea exploration. One day when re- 

 covering from his illness he chapced to 

 meet his friend, Mr. James Lawrence, of 

 Boston. Lawrence remarked, "How ill 

 you are looking!" and Agassiz replied 

 that he thought he was dying. "Non- 

 sense," said Lawrence, "what you need is 

 rest and change of scene." "I can not 

 afford it, ' ' was the reply. ' ' Oh yes ! you 

 can," said Lawrence, "I'll be your 

 banker." Agassiz never referred to this 

 incident without emotion. He always felt 

 that he owed his life to Mr. Lawrence. 



Mr. and Mrs. Agassiz sailed for Europe 

 in the autumn of 1869, with their children 



