190 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VoL. XXXII. 
I must make hard work a condition of a continued connection 
with the school, and desire particularly to impress it upon the appli- 
cants for admission that Penikese Island is not to be regarded as a 
place of summer resort for relaxation. I do not propose to give 
much instruction in matters which may be learned from books. I 
want, on the contrary, to prepare those who shall attend to observe 
Jor themselves. I would therefore advise all those who wish only to 
be taught natural history in the way in which it is generally taught, 
by recitations, to give up their intention of joining the school. 
In the following spring the munificent offer by an utter 
stranger, Mr. John Anderson, of New York, of the island of 
Penikese in Buzzard’s Bay, together with a dwelling-house and 
barn and an endowment of fifty thousand dollars, not only led 
to the change of location, but enabled Agassiz to carry out cer- 
tain parts of his plan more fully. 
The island was not formally in possession until April 22. 
Between that date and the 8th of July, when the school was 
announced to open, a site for buildings had to be chosen, plans 
drawn, contracts let, and provision made for the housing and 
subsistence of nearly fifty pupils and several instructors, some 
of them with families. 
Notwithstanding the utmost efforts of all concerned, on the 
5th of July, when Professor Agassiz and the writer reached the 
island, only one of the two projected buildings had been even 
roofed ; it was neither floored nor shingled. The next day was 
Sunday. A few words from Agassiz satisfied the carpenters as 
1 The passages quoted above, and many that might be added from the circu- 
lars of Professor Agassiz, from his opening addresses, and from private letters 
and conversations, demonstrate conclusively that, while anticipating as an indirect 
result the increase of knowledge by research upon the part of the instructors and 
advanced pupils, the primary object was instruction in fundamental facts, ideas, 
and methods ; he repeatedly declared his hope that the Anderson School wigar 
become the “educational branch of the Museum of Comparative Zoology.” 
Whatever may have been his dreams for the future, and however extravagant 
may have been the declarations and prognostications in uninformed lay journals, 
at that time nothing was farther from his mind than any comparison with, e.g.» 
the Zoological Station at Naples. The fact of his clear recognition of the dis- 
tinction is insisted upon here in the interests of simple justice towards Professor 
Agassiz, his associates, and pupils. Those who may regard this insistence as 
needless are referred to the article “ An American Seaside Laboratory” in ature 
for March 25, 1880, pp. 497-499, and to the commentary thereon, “ The Penikese 
School,” in the ation for July 8, 1880, p. 29. 
