Jean Louis Rudolphe Agassiz was born in Switzerland, in 1807, 
and died at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1873. Agassiz intro¬ 
duced the laboratory method in zoology to students of America 
and trained many who have be'come prominent in biology. His 
motto, “ Study nature not books,” has been taken as a motto by 
thousands of students all over the world. He was the founder 
of the summer laboratory method of study now so common, the 
first such laboratory having been held at Penikese Island off the 
coast of Massachusetts He was Professor of Zoology and Ge¬ 
ology lit Harvard and Curator of the museum that now bears his 
name. His scientific contributions covered a wide range of sub¬ 
jects in zoology and geology. 
