882 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 858 



and chemical processes everywhere going 

 on in the ocean without calling in the ex- 

 tensive subsidences demanded by the the- 

 ories of Darwin and Dana. 



Agassiz almost at once adopted these 

 views, saying, ' ' I never really accepted the 

 theories of Darwin and Dana; it was all 

 too mighty simple. Besides," he added, 

 "this new view is founded on observation 

 and can be verified, and I'll attempt to do 

 it, and will visit coral-reef regions for the 

 purpose. ' ' 



Darwin, it will be remembered, stated 

 that his whole theory was thought out on 

 the west coast of South America before he 

 had seen a true coral reef.* The method 

 of Agassiz was to see every true coral-reef 

 region of the world before he formed any 

 theory. 



Darwin's theory of coral reefs may be 

 briefly stated as follows: The corals com- 

 mence by forming fringing reefs along a 

 shore. The shore commences to subside, 

 but the corals grow directly upwards. In 

 course of time a lagoon-channel is formed 

 between the growing reef and the subsiding 

 shore-line. When this process continues 

 for a sufficient length of time the central 

 island completely disappears beneath the 

 waves, and the lagoon of an atoll occupies 

 ultimately the place of the island. The 

 fringing reef thus develops into the barrier 

 reef, and the barrier reef develops into the 

 atoll. 



Agassiz writes in 1909 that the result of 

 his studies on coral reefs has been "to dis- 

 sent in toto from the views of Dana and 

 Darwin regarding the mode of formation 

 of barrier reefs and atolls." 



In 1902, after his visit to the Maldives, 

 he wrote to me as follows : 



This will be the end of a most successful ex- 

 pedition, perhaps to me the most interesting visit 



* See ' ' Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, ' ' 

 Vol. I., p. 70, London, 1887. 



to a coral-reef group I have made. For certainly 

 I have learned more at the Maldives about atoUs 

 than in all my past experience in the Pacific and 

 elsewhere. I should never have forgiven myself 

 had I not seen the Maldives with my own eyes and 

 formed my own opinion of what they mean. — Such 

 a lot of twaddle — it 's all wrong what Darwin 

 has said, and the charts ought to have shown him 

 that he was talking nonsense. ... At any rate I 

 am glad that I always stuck to writing what I 

 saw in each group and explained what I saw as 

 best I could, without trying all the time to have 

 an all-embracing theory. Now, however, I am 

 ready to have my say on coral reefs and to write 

 a connected account of coral reefs based upon 

 what I have seen. It will be a pleasure to me to 

 write such a book and illustrate it properly by 

 charts and photographs. But it will be quite a 

 job with my other work on hand. I hope to live 

 to 100! or rather I don't hope, but ought to! 

 to finish all. 



Later, in 1907, he writes: "I have 

 started on my coral-reef book, but it is a 

 job, a good deal more than I expected. 

 If I stay at home I ought to make good 

 progress." Later in the same year he 

 says: "I fancy I shall have all the time I 

 want to write out my popular account of 

 coral reefs. I have made a fair beginning, 

 and hope to keep the material within rea- 

 sonable bounds and not allow it to run 

 away with me." Four months before his 

 death he wrote: "I have worked hard at 

 my coral-reef book," and only a few days 

 before his death he told me in London that 

 he had really sketched out this book three 

 times, but found it very diiScult indeed to 

 deal satisfactorily with the mass of infor- 

 mation that had been collected. It was his 

 intention, he stated, to write this book dur- 

 ing the present year practically for the 

 fourth and last time, leaving out all criti- 

 cism of the work of others and stating ex- 

 actly what he had himself observed and 

 his own views. 



When in 1903 he addressed the Royal 

 Society of London on coral reefs, he simply 

 described what he had seen in the various 



