ALEXANDER AGASSIZ 429 
for its annual income was but $10,000 while it had a debt of $40,000, 
and only four fifths of the north wing was completed. Fortunately, 
however, the devotion of the country to the memory of the great Louis 
Agassiz was such that the museum was not allowed to fail as had the 
school at Penikese. Over $310,000 were raised by popular subscription 
and through state grants for the support of the museum, and as a me- 
morial to Louis Agassiz, $25,000 being contributed by Alexander 
Agassiz himself. It is interesting to see that $1,215 of the amount was 
subscribed by 1,233 workmen of the Calumet and Hecla, although there 
were at that time not more than 1,400 men at the mine. 
From 1874 Alexander Agassiz remained the actual, although not 
constantly the nominal, head of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 
and from 1902 until his death in 1910 he bore the title of director of 
the Harvard University Museum. 
The growth of the museum building was slow but constant. Alex- 
ander Agassiz himself completed the construction of the zoological sec- 
tion in 1882 and other public-spirited men and women, including his 
two sisters, contributed to build other parts of the edifice, until at pres- 
ent only one hundred feet of the southern wing of the building planned 
so long ago by Louis Agassiz remains to be completed. The total cost 
of the building has been more than $1,200,000, and its invested capital 
amounts to somewhat more than $900,000. Thus while it is much 
hampered for funds it still remains the greatest university museum in 
the United States. The zoological section has been greatly enriched by 
collections gathered by Alexander and Louis Agassiz, and their gifts to 
the library have placed it in a position in which it is unsurpassed in 
America, more than 6,000 bound volumes having been presented by 
Alexander Agassiz himself. 
In the classification of #ts zoological exhibits the museum is one of 
the clearest existing models of the system of Cuvier, for it must be re- 
membered that intellectually Louis Agassiz was Cuvier’s son, and 
Alexander Agassiz steadfastly pursued his father’s plan in so far as the 
museum’s exhibits were concerned. 
No family has striven more effectually for the intellectual uplifting 
of Harvard than that of the Agassiz, and it is to be regretted that the 
great museum which they founded and fostered does not officially bear 
their name, but instead is described by an almost meaningless phrase, 
“The Museum of Comparative Zoology.” 
Alexander Agassiz was a loyal son of his alma mater and he served 
as an overseer of Harvard from 1873 to 1878 and again in 1885; and he 
was a fellow from 1878 to 1884 and from 1886 to 1890. In 1885 the 
university conferred upon him the honorary degree of LI..D. 
The year 1875 marks the beginning of Alexander Agassiz’s career 
as a leader of expeditions, for with Dr. Samuel Garman as his assistant 
