164 



NATURAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



PENIKESE — A Reminiscence. 



By One of its Pupils. 



Copyright secured 1895. 



Professor Agassiz lectured to us every day, and 

 sometimes two or three times a day. His sugges- 

 tions to us in our study of the Animal Kingdom and 

 upon embryology were also of the greatest interest 

 and importance. At one time he tells us: — 



"We begin, today a course of lectures on the Ani- 

 mal Kingdom. To know how the knowledge was 

 obtained we must study the history of Zoology. 

 There was a time when animals were studied by their 

 external features alone, and scientists knew so little 

 about classification that they arranged their informa- 

 tion alphabetically. One of the earliest scientists to 

 which we refer today was Caspar Gessner (this should 

 doubtless have been Conrad Gesner, though it is 

 Caspar Gessner plainly in the notes taken at the time 

 the lecture was given). The first classification of 

 animals was into aquatic, aerial, and land animals. 

 Aristotle was one of our earliest and best scientists. 

 Linnaeus' Systema Natura is a marvelous work, con- 

 sidered from our greater and his lesser knowledge of 

 the subject of which he treats. The period of Cuvier 

 is as remarkable as that of Linnaeus. He introduc- 

 ed anatomy as the basis of classification, (there were 

 three editors of his Reg7ie Animalia, in 1817, 1829, and 

 in 1834). Contemporary with him was Carl Ernest 

 von Baer. He studied embryology and arrived at 

 the same conclusions. He gave to the Animal King- 

 dom four classes. Dollinger was the founder of em- 

 bryology. He was great as a guide to further labors, 

 — Baer was his pupil. Sanders' Embryology of the 

 Chick is an important work for students in embryol- 

 ogy. Ostroeicher's studies on the capillaries were 

 written under Dollinger's directions. Oken wrote 

 from suggestions made by Goethe. The elder Carus 

 and Geoffrey St. Hillaire works contained the studies 

 of homologies, — the latter is now a most important 

 work for the continued advancement of Zoology. 

 Will someone explain the difference between analogy 

 and homology? Of embryology as a study in itself 

 Professor Agassiz said: "It is a wonder that such 

 broad and comprehensive generlizations could have 

 been made upon a basis of knowledge derived from 

 so few animals. " 



Again, he takes up embryology and says: — 



"The eggs of birds were known, and their parts 

 named, very early; these have been transferred to all 

 other eggs. We have the yolk, with its vitelline 

 membrane; the white; the shell with its two lining 

 membranes with the air space between them at the 

 larger end; and the suspensory cords. Of all these 

 the yolk alone is necessary in producing the young, — 

 in fact, the others may all be wanting. Eggs can be 

 of any form. The yolk is a fluid, organized, and at 

 first appears albuminous. The blastoderm, or life 

 portion, is surrounded by a congregation of light cells 

 which cause it to always appear on the top — no mat- 

 ter how the egg may be placed. Baer discovered the 

 mammalism egg, and about the same time, 1837, the 

 cell doctrine was advanced. Through the influence 

 of Schleiden the structure of animals and plants be- 

 gan to be compared. Studies of cells and the cellu- 

 lar structure has been continued ever since. They 

 described the cell membrane, the nucleus or point of 

 special life, and the nucleolus or point within this 

 point. Microscopists sought cell tissue everywhere. 

 Embryologists sought the smallest eggs. All parties 

 agreed, finally, that eggs were cells destined to an en- 



larged growth — a peculiar development and, ultimate- 

 ly, an individual existence. 



"Forty years ago the theme of science was the 

 function of organs: Today, it is cells. The minute 

 tentacle of the hydroid polyp contains, at once, cells 

 — nervous, muscular, and assimulative. Thus all 

 structures are formed of differentiated or specialized 

 cells; all parts of animals are formed of cells. The 

 study of the changes undergone by these cells has 

 only just begun. Until we know how new individ- 

 uals originate we cannot speculate upon the origin of 

 species. With a power of 1100 diameters we see, in 

 these minute eggs, small dark spots in the stroma. 

 We know nothing of the properties of these bodies. 

 All we can tell is that dots of all sizes may 'be seen, 

 hence we conclude that the dots grow. In the larger 

 dots we notice a difference between the periphery and 

 the center, the latter being less dense. Next we see 

 a central condensation. Later a mere hollow until 

 we get a perfect nucleus. Finally, one or several 

 germinal dots, — and we have the so-called ovarian 

 egg of the embryologists with which they begin their 

 investigations. " 



Well do I remember how often Professor Agassiz 

 urged us to "read only the best books." He seemed 

 especially fond of Cuvier's works, and time and again 

 impressed it upon us that they were a "most valuable 

 basis for scientific study." Among his odd table- 

 talks — for he often talked to us from the breakfast, 

 the dinner, and the tea table — and even many other 

 times, in the laboratory, and anywhere where that he 

 could find an object to talk about and a group, of two 

 or three, even, to talk to. "Be sure" he would say, "to 

 examine all protozoa which you may secure, to see 

 whether they are independent individuals or different 

 stages of the same individual." In urging a study of 

 Physical Geography, he would add, "tor a knowledge 

 of Physical Geography is indispensible to any student 

 of Natural History." He heartily indorsed Professor 

 Guyot's works upon that subject. There were few 

 books he did recommend to us, for he cordially de- 

 tested the ordinary books upon scientific subjects. 

 At one time, in a paroxysm of rage at these "would- 

 be scientists," he exclaimed: "they are mere compil- 

 ations of persons unfamiliar with science, who mix 

 the false and the true:" Alas, shall we ever again 

 meet with his equal, as teacher and pupil and brother 

 combined! 



To one unacquainted with Professor Agassiz, the 

 scenes at Penikese, during the second term of her 

 school, was full of fascination and lively animation: 

 but to us, who had studied under the Master, it was 

 one with "the whole head sick, and the whole heart 

 faint. " 



In presenting the history of this second and last 

 year of Penikese Island, if I have followed my diary 

 somewhat closely, and thus of necessity repeated 

 many things that had already been said in any pre- 

 vious chapter, I hope that they will not appear ob- 

 jectionable on such account — since they may intro- 

 duce us to new features of the original plan, and 

 lead us to new pleasures in the inexhaustable field of 

 research. 



(To be continued.) 



