THE WEST-AMEKICAN SCIENTIST. 



The AjCHs^iz Association. 



(Selections from ''Science." rend before the Society 

 of Natural History, .Dec. 5.) 



An excellent example, perhaps second to 

 none in this country for its beneficial re- 

 sults, is the founding and conduct of the 

 Agassiz Association, which held its first 

 general assembly last summer in Philadel- 

 phia. Its origin and plan are the work of 

 Mr. Harlan H. Ballard, first as a local in- 

 stitution for youth at the Lenox (Mass.) 

 Academy, of which he is principal. 



It proved so successful in promoting a 

 love for the study of natural phenomena, 

 that he conceived the idea of making the 

 experiment more generally useful. An in- 

 vitation given in St. Nicholas to form a 

 general association was answered with such 

 unexpected enthusiasm that over seven 

 hundred local branches have been estab- 

 lished, and more than eight thousand chil- 

 dren and grown people enrolled within 

 four years. 



As the idea was in part suggested by a 

 similar society of boys and sirls in Swit- 

 zerland, this association has been very ap- 

 propriately named after Louis Agassiz, 

 whose sympathy and earnest work in be- 

 half of popular education has made his 

 name historical in both Switzerland and 

 America. 



By. the regulations of the society, chap- 

 ters may be established by a few persons, 

 four being the minimum limit; and age 

 being wisely left out of account, many 

 families have formed separate chapters. 



Classes for the systematic study of ele- 

 mentary botany, entomology, anatomy, 

 etc., have boen formed under the leader- 

 ship of competent teachers, and conducted 

 by correspondence. Self-help and inde- 

 pendent exertion are thus made necessary 

 for every isolated chapter. Much good 

 must have already been done in this way 

 in direct opp >sition to the whole tendency 

 of the ordinary training of the schools, 

 and we are much mistaken if both pupils 



and teachers have not in many cases been 

 greatly benefitted by their experience in 

 this really higher class of educational 

 work. 



The conductors of this enterprise have 

 done something permanent and effectual 

 towards spreading a taste for self-culture 

 in an almost new sense, and have taught 

 thousands how to work with whatever 

 means were at hand, not only for their own 

 intellectual improvement, but for that of 

 their children and neighbors. 



San Diejfo Society of Natural History. 



At a meeting of the above Society held 

 December 5, Miss Rosa Smith read an arti- 

 cle on the life-history of the marine "gold- 

 fish"; Mr. C. J. Fox made statements re- 

 garding the wildfowl of the county, and 

 mentioned the existence of a land-tortoise 

 on the desert; C. R. Orcutt presented a 

 specimen of the "fiddler-crab" {Gelasimus 

 brevifrom, St.), from Todos Santos hay, 

 Lower California, where they inhabit holes 

 in the salt-marshes, like toads in a garden. 

 Specimens were exhibited of the wood- 

 perforating crustaceans destructive to the 

 wharf-piles. Attention was also called to 

 the Agassiz Association. 



The hand-beok of the Agassiz Associa- 

 tion presents a great variety of useful in- 

 formation which should be accessible to 

 every boy and gfrl since it directs atten- 

 tion to beneficial amusements as well as in- 

 valuable instruction in the study of nature. 

 Teachers can do no greater service to their 

 pupils than to interest and assist, them in 

 such intellectual self-culture. — [H. H. Bal- 

 lard, Pres. A. A., Lenox, Mass. 



Small pieces of a fair quality of sponge 

 have been seen from All Saints' (Todos 

 Santos) bay, Lower California. The com- 

 mon sponges of this coast are worthless foi 

 commercial purposes, but what wealth ma3 

 be revealed by deep-water dredging can 

 not be foretold. 



