The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1874-05-23

who started this plan of inviting the teachers
and pupils OF the country to unite in building
a monument to Agassiz by endowing the Mu-
scum. Of course L may be mistaken in judg-
ing OF the motives of those noble men, Joseph |
Henry of the Smithsonian Institution, William
I. Harris of st. Louis, Newton Bateman of
Springfield, Illinois, Presidents Robins and |
Chamberlain, and Professor Barbour of this |
State, and leading educationists in nearly all |
movement with great cordialty; but L feel |
that it is rather harsh judgment to speak of
an action begun and fostered by such men, as
sharpness to avail themselves of money"
eunder disguise; as "mesn and disgracefur';
as a "despcable trick" as covert and I'M
manly scheme"
@ is decidedly in favor of any proper means
or movement placed in any school by its
friends to venerate his name," and thinks that
eff it was proposed to build monument to the
great scholar, to him alone, n all would ia
vor it," Now, Mr.. Editor, have always felt
very strongly the truth of Dr. Young's line, to
the effect that he best mourns the dead, who
lives as they desired. No proof of our affection
for that teacher, whose genial and pure pres
ence has, during the last twenty seven years,
done so much for the intellectual life, and even
for the business prosperity,.Of America, could
be given more in accordance with his desires,
than to place upon permanent foundation of
perpetual usefulness that great Normal School
for teachers of physical science which he be-
gan at Cambridge, Mass,,-to contribute to-
tI,o nc ha hopas and aSpira-
tions and sublime purposes of duty, which led
him for twenty years to renounce his scientific
tastes, repress his personal scientific ambition,
and to devote himself to building up centre
for scientific education in America to the sac
rifice of personal ease, comfort, and fortune,
to the endurance of enormous labors and ia
tigues, and even to the sacrifice of life-life
which was dear to him by thousand other
ties than those known to the public eye. Moth
| ing conld be- mora annoying to him than the
thought of personal monument, carved in
stone; nothing more grateful that the thought
of a monument in living working institu-
ton, for the promotion and diffusion of sci
ence.
we'll remember in a conversation in my ow n
house in 1S49, from which think his death
has taken the seal Of privacy, with what unaf-
fected earnestness and almost grief, he ex-
pressed his annoyance that the wealthy men of
this country seemed SO ready to give money to
him personally, and SO backward to give any
thing to zoology. He wished that it might be
understood that true man of science was
more pleased with gift to science than with
gift to himself.
Maine has three colleges needing larger en-
dowments; Massachusetts has at least three
others beside Harvard. and all need more
funds; the country is full of colleges in need of
aid But the half million which has been ex-
pended upon the Museum of Comparative FOOL
ogy at Harvard College has been of more value
to the other colleges of the country, and to the
country at large, than twenty times that sum
| could have been had it been divided, pro rata,
among the colleges of the country. That Mu-
scum is a unique affair; we cannot possibly
have another, and we have not yet got that in
anything like the fullness of its possible useful
ness When used to carry box full Of in
sects to Agassiz, he invariably asked, "Have
you offered them to DR.. Harris?" and if re-
piled, "No;" said, "Then let him first select
any that he wants; his collection is better than
mine, and it is much more important to sci
ence, to have one perfect collection, than many
imperfect" He was always urging the i'm
portance in our educational institutions, of
having some one institution, of much higher
grade than could possibly be duplicated When
John Albion Andrew delivered that marvel
AAAOootASO
translated into the languages of the other CONT
nent with admiring approval, Agassiz expressed
an enthusiastic delight in the hope that An
drew's eloquence might convert the State to
wisdom, in this particular
The Museum of Comparative Zoology does
not need to be duplicated; it does need to be en-
dOwed. 1t must stand somewhere, and the po-
sition where it would be most useful, would be
near Yale, or near Harvard; so near that its
students could have free access to the botanic
OordQpc no ooh fho 1acf,r
rooms, and the recitation rooms of the college,
as they might have need. 1t happens to be To-
Gated near Harvard, which approaches nearer
to being well endowed, than most other COL
Museum better advantages and aids than other
colleges could. But Harvard herself, is not
rich. Almost all her funds are tied to specific
objects; they cannot be diverted; and are fire.
quently insufficient to effect their objects. But
the money given to the Museum benefits Har-
ward only in the most remotest, most indirect
way. 1t benefits the whole country. Professors
In every college in the Union would unite with
those of Maine in saying this. If the Museum
bad bad funds ~ which se retain the ssEXicss
Mr.. Boil, and such thorough entomolo
gists as Or: Hagsr,. no man can
resulted to the agricultural interests eff the
country. In this mornings issue, Mr.. Editor
you alluded to the immense pecuniary value of
flsh culture to the State of Maine. 1t was
ASasSiL VINO uellDofaUely invented Cne MODE
of artifcially impregnating fish spawn; tried
it; succeeded; and taught it personally to fish
ermen. His success led to the invention of the
mode Of artifcially propagating oysters. These
two inventions are worth many millions to the
human race. The spirit Of study, which
Agassiz's example and influence did much to-
warI awakening, has led also to the discovery
of the mode of freeing mankind from two of
the most disgusting, and even dangerous, para
sites to which they are subject tenia and
trichina. These discoveries have not ex-
hausted the fountains of geological science.
New discoveries of great value will continue to
be made; but they can be made only by stu
dents of the most thorough education, provided
with the most abundant means of investigation.
Such means, and such education can be fur
nished only by an institution amply endowed,
and full of the traditions of learning. Let us
do all that we can to establish such an institu-
ton, and not withhold aid simply because the
institution most easily lifted to that pitch of
usefulness happens to be in another state. No
thing would more rapidly bring in gifts to. other
colleges and other schools, Throughout the
country than to make some one institution
truly great and efficient. There is no occasion
for local jealousles in the grand question of
higher education. If we do not make Yale or
Harvard, and their surrounding institutions,
of a sufficiently high standard to hold our
young men of genius here for education,-we
shall be indefinitely subjected to our present
exhaustive drain, in educating then at foreign
universities.
1t was Agassiz's noble ambition to turn the
tide and make SoYla university hara 40 uood