178 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 344. 



been created. Agassiz's success in this way- 

 was remarkable. He obtained under the 

 most discouraging circumstances, even in the 

 darkness of the war, large sums of money 

 from the Legislature of Massachusetts, and 

 his appeal to individuals was always irre- 

 sistible. 



It seems pertinent, in view of the analo- 

 gous relations of the New York museum to 

 the Legislature of the State and private 

 benefactors, to quote Marcou's expressive 

 description of Agassiz's methods. Agassiz's 

 biographer writes : " The amount of scien- 

 tific diplomacy he made use of is something 

 astounding ; for instance, he would detail 

 with great clearness the working of the in- 

 stitution, and make it clear that the mu- 

 seum is an element of education even in the 

 most elementary school of commonwealth, 

 and that in the future generations there 

 would not be a child who would not have 

 the opportunity of understanding the 

 scheme of creation as thoroughly as he un- 

 derstood his multiplication table. He had 

 the tact to adapt his explanations and his 

 description of the absolute poverty of the 

 institution to the listener and his official 

 position in the State. Then, after weeks 

 of such preparatory work at the State 

 House, came the annual visit of the whole 

 legislative body, with the Governor at 

 its head, to the museum. Everything 

 was in readiness for the reception when 

 the six or ten street cars, filled with legis- 

 lators, arrived at the University grounds. 

 Agassiz conducted them at once into the 

 various exhibition halls, showing the treas- 

 ures of each and briefly describing the de- 

 partments. Afterwards in the lecture room , 

 in an informal conversation, he detailed the 

 methods and needs of the institution. He 

 always succeeded in winning to his side 

 farmers, tradesmen and politicians. After 

 such a visit the Legislature always voted a 

 new appropriation of public money ; it was 

 only necessary for the President of the Sen- 



ate and the Speaker of the House to make 

 speeches in its favor, and the resolution 

 would easily pass the three readings with- 

 out further debate." 



Celebrated collections of the Old World, 

 constant accessions from the new, were 

 pouring into the museum at Cambridge. 

 In 1869 Professor Agassiz reported that 

 though the income of the British Museum 

 and the Jardin des Plantes was more than 

 ten times that of the Museum of Compara- 

 tive Zoology, yet the last " in certain de- 

 partments, such as corals and fishes, was 

 superior to both, and that in activity of re- 

 search and publication it yields to neither, 

 while the increase of its collections since its 

 existence, and the prominence it has at- 

 tained among the museums, are such as no 

 like establishment has reached in the same 

 time and with the same means." 



It was with anxious eyes that the natur- 

 alists of ISTew York and those citizens of 

 the great metropolis that were devoted to 

 the advancement of its intellectual interests 

 noted this rapid progress. The formative 

 period closed, and the crystallization of an 

 idea, so definitely recognized, quickly suc- 

 ceeded in those years, which included the 

 incorporation of the American Museum of 

 Natural History. 



L. P. Geatacap. 



American Museum 

 OF Natural History. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 



Publications of the Japanese Earthquake Investi- 

 gallon Commiitee. Nos. 5 and 6. Tokyo. 

 1901. 



These two volumes are continuations of the 

 series of publications in foreign languages of 

 the investigations of the Imperial Japanese 

 Seismological Committee, the earlier numbers 

 of which received a somewhat extended notice 

 in the columns of this journal some time ago. 

 They are written by Dr. Omori, a member of 

 the Committee in immediate charge of the in- 

 vestigations, and they contain horizontal pen- 



