176 



NATUEAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



PENIKESE— A Reminiscence. 



By One of its Pupils. 



Copyright secured 1895. 

 hour. Well did he perform this his most delightful 

 duty! He would usually continue the exercise until 

 the most obdurate lover of Somnus had become fully 

 aroused. The flourishes and grimaces with which all 

 this was accompanied and executed would have 

 caused many a hearty laugh, could you have seen 

 him, as you were awakened, in spite of your desire to 

 remain longer in delicious repose, by the perseverance 

 of the good-natured urchin, who reminded one greatly 

 of a small, insignificant, but very troublesome fly, 

 who returns again and again, as often as you drive 

 him away, to torment you. 



Our dormitories, this year, are much more conven- 

 ient, in every way, than they were the year previous. 

 Now there are plenty of rooms; and each person is 

 thus provided with a separate and individual apart- 

 ment. These two buildings, which are dormitories 

 above and laboratories beneath, are crossed in the 

 center by a lecture-room, and look, from without and 

 at a little distance, like an immense letter H. The 

 laboratory doors face the sea — at least two of them, 

 at the rear of each room — and give us plenty of fresh 

 air, as well as a fine view of the harbor and of the 

 surrounding waters. In these rooms we are busy by 

 day and by night. I recall one of our number who 

 labored both diligently and often at the Echini. 

 These "Sand-dollars," as they are vulgarly called, 

 engrossed his especial attention. The seamen call 

 them "Spanish dollars," owing, no doubt, to the fact 

 that they come from the bottom of the sea and call to 

 mind, perhaps, the old legends of hidden treasures 

 restored to rash adventurers by some similar, seem- 

 ingly mysterious process as that by which now we 

 dredge old ocean's bottom, and brought to light its 

 valuable products. 



During our second week upon the island, which 

 has just closed, we have had another delightful even- 

 ing lecture on sound, by Professor Mayer; his agree- 

 able manners and perfect experiments making it 

 doubly interesting. Mr. Barnard, also, has given 

 several additional talks upon the protazoa or lower 

 animals; but, although the speaker tried his utmost 

 to illustrate the difference between these lowest 

 forms, I sadly fear that, to many, the amceba and pro- 

 tamceba and ainixa and firotamixa, were so confounded 

 in the minds of the listeners, owing, no doubt, to the 

 slight real difference between them, that few were 

 benefited thereby. But Mr. Roetter, the genial, pa- 

 tient Mr. Roetter, has shown more and more of the 

 calm endurance required to complete a finished, sat- 

 isfactory sketch of some object of special interest. 

 How slowly, methodically, and yet how well he drew 

 and instructed; his own drawings were our object les- 

 sons, often, — and well we knew that we could never 

 attain to such a degree of artistic beauty and excel- 

 lence. It was thus that each professor, in his depart- 

 ment, sought to give us his best from which to form a 

 model for us for our future scientific advancement 

 and career. 



Sunday! It is a very quiet day with us: no work, — 

 but complete rest. We have church, or rather a sort 

 of social meeting or gathering together in the morn- 

 ing, and are left free to wander where we will for the 

 remainder of the day, which closes with a singing ser- 

 vice — if so we may call it — from the little fort on the 

 hill, in the evening, and from which it is accounted 

 quite a disgrace to be absent. In the singing all who 

 can and wish join. 



After considerable urging, our colored waiters form 

 a chorus of their own and treat us to some of their 

 native songs. Far over the waters float these simple 

 words of praise. Everyone who has ever heard them 

 is aware of the wonderfully peculiar pathos that there 

 is in the melody of songs sung by good colored singers. 

 There were four in our chorus, and their voices har- 

 monized well together. We retired from the little 

 fort, during the singing, and the minstrels occupied it 

 alone. They sang with great power, pronouncing 

 each word clearly and distinctly. Their songs were 

 simple, both in word and in tune, but they seemed to 

 us, upon that wave-lapped island, so far from land, 

 as coming from creatures more angelic than human — 

 more divine than the civilized relics of a barbaric 

 race. We remained near and listened — some stand- 

 ing, others reclining upon the grass near by: And 

 so the twilight passed into evening shades, and they 

 into the darkness of the night, and it was late before 

 we retired. 



Today, Monday, Professor Wilder gave us a lecture 

 upon Professor Agassiz. He told us that the latter 

 had told him, some time previous to his death, that 

 he feared that he might pass away at any moment, 

 and that he believed that his days on earth were num- 

 bered; that he might die. "in a year, a month, a 

 week, a day, or even an hour," adding, simply, "and 

 I am prepared." Such were Mr. Agassiz's own con- 

 victions. We too, believe, with another, that Pro- 

 fessor Agassiz's death is "one of the deepest calamit- 

 ies that has fallen upon the thinking world." 



On Tuesday evening the old Agassiz Natural His- 

 tory Club was again organized, with a president, two 

 vice-presidents, a secretary and treasurer combined in 

 the same office, and an executive committee of five 

 members. The meeting was opened by a few re- 

 marks, appropriate to the occasion, by the president, 

 and then given up to the discussion of scientific sub- 

 jects, which pleasantly occupied the remainder of the 

 evening. Remarks were made on the movements of 

 the eyes of fishes while swimming in different posi- 

 tions in the water. Two of our professors, who were 

 present, explained: The one, the nerves and move- 

 ments of the fish eye in general; the other, the gen- 

 eral structure of the eye and the apparent reason for 

 the peculiar movements previously alluded to. The 

 question was, as to whether the pupil moved in a line 

 with the inclination of the body or not; the opinion, 

 pretty generally expressed, seemed in favor of the af- 

 firmative. Remarks were also made upon the differ- 

 ence in the development of the tadpole, or young, of 

 our different species of toads and frogs. In showing 

 the periods of growth in the different species, the 

 speaker said: that in batrachians the hind feet were 

 those which were first developed, while in the sala- 

 manders it was the fore feet; thus distinguishing the 

 young of these two great classes. He said that all 

 our species of the former, excepting those of the 

 green and spotted frogs, .assume their true form very 

 soon after hatching from the egg, while those refered 

 to were sometimes two to three years in maturing. 

 He showed, also, that physical conditions have much 

 to do with the quickness with which they assume 

 their adult forms, and that they must be able, for 

 their proper and perfect development, to leave the 

 water at times, and climb up upon the mud or earth 

 banks of their breeding-pool, where, thus keeping 

 their bodies still moist and hence supple, they could, 

 at the same time, exercise their limbs and receive the 

 sun upon them. And thus, after many other inter- 



(To be continued.) 



