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Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



manifested immediately called around him a wondering circle of 

 ladies and gentlemen. Prof. Agassiz was interested in the egg; 

 we in him, and it seemed quite worth our while to observe him as 

 he studied it. Beaming and sparkling with delight, he surprised 

 us by saving: 'No human eye, so far as recorded, has ever seen 

 what we now see — an egg in the body of the skate. I have been 

 looking for thirty years for this very thing.' He seemed as happy 

 and as nervous as an inexperienced young maiden with an unex- 

 pected love-letter. When he began to trim away the flesh so as to 

 show the egg in its bed to better advantage, his hand trembled so 

 that he could hardly use it. But more was to come. As he was 

 carefully, slowly, clipping away the fleshy covering, there came a 

 sudden, a very expressive, i Ah-h-h ! ' and then the words, ' Truly, 

 here are two of them ; how beautiful they are ! The sight of these 

 two eggs alone would pay me for my whole summer's work ! ' and 

 then, with a soft, happy, boyish whistle, he went on with the dis- 

 secting, to make it ready for the drawing-master. When it was 

 drawn, showing both eggs entire in the shells, it was brought down 

 for a second dissection, preparatory to a second drawing. On re- 

 moving the upper part of one of the shells, there appeared a very 

 pretty egg, somewhat like a hen's egg, with this difference : the 

 yolk was pink instead of yellow, and about half as large as the yolk 

 of a hen's egg. Its general appearance, including the germinative 

 vesicle, suggested the idea of some large bird's egg. At this the 

 professor's feelings and the interest of the observing reached their 

 climax. 'Before it is moved,' said he, 'I must take a good look 

 at it, lest something happen to it. Ah ! ' continued he, 'it is a 

 splendid sight ; it is the most beautiful specimen I ever saw. Now, 

 Dr. Wilder, raise it out of the water— stop ! give me a look at it 

 in the air before it goes into the alcohol. Yes, there is the blasto- 

 derm, perfect. Now, carefully lower it into the alcohol.' Then a 

 long, fond, happy look before the utterance — evidently with intense 

 feeling, and apparently with perfect sincerity — of the following 

 words : ' I would not take two thousand dollars for that rare speci- 

 men. No human eye but ours has ever seen it. I would not ex- 

 change it for the Madonna of Raphael ! ' " 



But there is a a limit beyond which human endurance can not 



