June 9, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



885 



ished at its amount, variety and quality. 

 His activities in any one direction would 

 have been an excellent record for any one 

 man, but he was many sided. He was 

 largelj^ engaged in commercial under- 

 takings and directed a great business dur- 

 ing the whole latter half of his life; he 

 carried on detailed researches and pub- 

 lished splendid memoirs on the group of 

 echinoderms — a subject on which he was 

 regarded as the leading authority. In his 

 deep-sea researches he added greatly to the 

 world's knowledge of the great oceans, and 

 inspired the investigations of a very large 

 number of zoological and other specialists. 

 In his study of coral-reefs he traveled more 

 extensively than any man of his time — ■ 

 many thousands of miles — with one special 

 object in view — to see with his own eyes 

 the varied forms which these gigantic and 

 beautiful natural structures assume under 

 different conditions. We must likewise 

 take into account his work in the labora- 

 tory and in the study, where the reports 

 on his many voyages, cruises, travels and 

 collections had to be prepared for publica- 

 tion. Again one must recall the services 

 he has rendered to his alma mater — Har- 

 vard University — in his general assistance 

 in administration, his special care of its 

 museums, his donations for extensions in 

 many directions, and lastly his altogether 

 grand series of publications from the Mu- 

 seum of Comparative Zoology." His great 

 desire was to add to the sum of natural 

 knowledge by his own work and by the 

 impulse he could give to others imbued 

 with a similar spirit and desire. He 

 worked and struggled continuously and 

 heroically with that end in view, and with 

 those who are now engaged in working up 

 his results and collections in all civilized 

 countries he is still a living force, and will 



" Fifty -two volumes of the Bulletin and thirty- 

 two volumes of Memoirs. 



be so for many years to come, for he has 

 arranged for the publication of all the 

 results of these researches. I used to meet 

 him nearly every year either in Europe or 

 in America, when we spent a few days to- 

 gether discussing almost all oceanic prob- 

 lems. I am conscious of his effect on my 

 life and all my scientific work. As an 

 example of the influence he exerted we 

 have only to look at the introduction to 

 the three splendid volumes recently pub- 

 lished on the medusa of the world by 

 Alfred Goldsborough Mayer, where the in- 

 itiation and encouragement of a generous 

 master and friend are gracefully acknowl- 

 edged. Many instances might be cited to 

 show how well and judiciously he applied 

 his wealth to set agoing work which he 

 considered worth doing, not only in his 

 own time but also in the future. The large 

 number of decorations and honors which 

 were conferred on Alexander Agassiz by 

 governments and universities and by 

 learned societies in aU parts of the world 

 show abundantly how highly his scientific 

 labors were appreciated by his contem- 

 poraries. 



It has been truly said that man does not 

 live by bread alone. History is crowded 

 with instances illustrating the fact that 

 men have cast off this mortal coil as so 

 much worthless dross when impelled by the 

 demands of some spiritual truth. Other 

 men have endured the greatest hardships 

 and privations in their endeavors to create 

 the beautiful in form, in sound or in color. 

 As it has been with the religious and ar- 

 tistic spirit in the past, so is it with the 

 modern scientific spirit. The desire to find 

 out the secrets of nature impels men to 

 trudge over Arctic and Antarctic ice-fields 

 with the satisfaction of all bodily require- 

 ments reduced to a minimum and burd- 

 ened with a load of scientific instruments. 

 Other men expose their bodies to the at- 



