152 



NATUKAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



PENIKESE — A Reminiscence. 



By One of its Pupils. 



Copyright secured 1895. 

 LECTURES: AGASSIZ. 



It is from such sketches of our lectures as those 

 just given, that the reader will obtain a glimpse, faint 

 and imperfect though it may be, of a single day's do- 

 ings at Penikese. The crumbs that have been garnered 

 thus for your benefit, would form but a part, and a 

 small part at that, of a single day's work. On an av- 

 erage, four lectures a day and often a fifth in the eve- 

 ning, besides laboratory and field work, form our 

 regular daily task; then we write our notes out in the 

 evening. Do you wonder where our time for rest 

 comes in? We have none — our work is rest; and yet 

 there is not one of us who does not enter into all this 

 willingly. A certain President of Amherst College 

 once asked the late Professor Charles U. Shepard, 

 the well-known mineralogist, what he considered the 

 "three most important elements of success to the 

 young man during his college course." The Profess- 

 or replied, without an instant's hesitation, "the first 

 is work!" Then with a pause of several moments, 

 he continued, "and the second is work!" and again 

 pausing, as if to impress his hearer with its impor- 

 tance, "and the third" here a much longer pause 

 than any of the others even, "is WORK!" and he 

 emphasized the word with all his power. Whether 

 borrowed or not, the phrase contained then, as it 

 does now; the only solution to the question. This is 

 what we did at Penikese Island. 



The lectures of Professor Agassiz are so individu- 

 alized in character that they may very properly form 

 a distinctive feature of this little sketch of our school. 

 There are, no doubt, flaws in the matter, which is 

 here presented as "notes" only, — but if such occur, 

 they will doubtless be due, more to the youth and in- 

 experience of the pupil who took them down than to 

 the possibility of mistake on the part of the lecturer; 

 but such as they are we give them to the reader. 



Professor Agassiz's first lecture was made up of 

 somewhat disconnected suggestions as to the manner 

 in which we should go to work to study the material 

 to be found at hand, about and around us, upon the 

 island. He said: — 



"I would call your attention first to the soil and 

 geological formation of our island. Points of com- 

 pass are a very essential feature in geological forma- 

 tion. We find that the barracks lie nearly east and 

 west. You will then find that the islands are cut in- 

 to by numerous bays, necks of land, etc., and the 

 question arises how are these formed? Then you 

 must find out all about the rocks, their connection 

 with the island and their connection with each other: 

 the difference in the material beyond the rocks and 

 beneath them; the difference of soil; and then how 

 the whole resemble those of the adjoining islands. 

 Find if there be any evidence of these islands ever 

 having been connected. In our investigations we 

 must deal with facts of Nature — this teacnes us always 

 to submit to truth. 



"Now let us turn our attention to the jelly fishes, 

 barnacles, fishes, etc., which will form our chief study 

 here. Do not handle any specimen more than is 

 absolutely necessary, you never know to what extent 

 you have injured it. Put your jelly fishes into pails 

 of water by floating them from the net to the pail. 

 A word more about our rocks; each one must collect 

 specimens for themselves. There will be found, 

 probably, upon our island, three-fourths or even 

 nine-tenths of all kinds of rocks in the United States. " 



At another time he again took up the subject and 

 said: 



"Most all of the rocks upon our island are imbed- 

 ded rocks, not rocks in place. Some of the neigh- 

 boring islands show rocks in place. Our first ques- 

 tion, upon seeing them is, Where did they come 

 from ? The mineral foundation of our earth is alike 

 everywhere. This was first shown by Humboldt. 

 When you find a rock not in position, hunt for one of 

 the same kind in position, — then search for specimens 

 between the two localities, and, if possible, trace 

 their connection. Loose materials are called erratic, 

 or bowlders, etc. ; the whole bulk is called drift; 

 ledges and the like are called rocks in place. Our 

 island probably contains specimens of all of our 

 rocks, excepting those of volcanic origin. Your 

 specimens should all be broken afresh, upon all 

 sides, so that they may be more accurately studied. 

 Rocks found near the water are usually assorted 

 (those of a size being together), the larger ones 

 lying higher up than the small ones. On hills and 

 away from the agency of water, they are mixed; the 

 small and the great lying together. By this means 

 we recognize the two agencies that are at work de- 

 positing them." 



The third lecture was devoted chiefly to hints upon 

 how to study the jelly fishes, and was illustrated by 

 numerous diagrams. Toward the end he digressed 

 from his subject to give us a few remarks upon 

 fishes, — especially regarding the Scnf, a specimen of 

 which, recently taken, someone had brought to him. 

 Of it he said: "The Scup is not found north of 

 Cape Cod, neither is it found extensively in South- 

 ern waters. The American coast does not furnish 

 many species of this family, though they are com- 

 mon in the Mediterrean and are called Sfaroids." 

 He then gave us the names of the fins and facial 

 bones of fishes. Professor Agassiz was always care- 

 ful as to the books which he recommended for our 

 perusal. Upon the jelly fishes he noticed but two;' 

 Professor Almon's "Monograph of English Jelly 

 Fishes," and Edward Forbes' "Medusae." 



We come now to perhaps the most interesting por- 

 tion of Professor Agassiz's lectures, and those which 

 embody his own original and personal work. They 

 are given in as nearly the exact wording and phrase- 

 ology as it was possible to obtain them, and commenc- 

 ed somewhat as follows: 



"Nothing is more difficult than to present a sub- 

 ject whose evidence is incomplete. Regarding the 

 aqueous or other origin of our island, its geological 

 formation does not present sufficient evidence for us 

 to form an opinion as to that origin that is capable of 

 being sustained. There are, at the present day, 

 many false views of great scientific questions held for 

 want of sufficient evidence to assert the truth. One 

 fact is but a small part of the whole evidence. A 

 great deal of our knowledge, even at the present day, 

 is traced back to Aristotle. The sources of true 

 knowledge are very few. Christianity has, in a 

 measure, prevented the advance of science. — It has 

 made us believe, and many are satisfied with that. 

 Science, generally, hates beliefs. 



"In 1836 I first felt an interest in these things. I 

 began to investigate everything. I was at the foot 

 of the Alps, when I found that the shepherds had a 

 theory that the masses of rock, everywhere to be seen 

 about them, had brought down to their present position 1 

 by what were then known as glaciers. An eminent j 

 civil-engineer, who was then present, held the same j 



(To be continued.) 



