And eternity’s new year?”
Then followed a few words of welcome on the part of Agassiz—of gratitude to the gentleman whose liberality had insured the success of the undertaking, and of cheerful encouragement to all for the realization of their hopes. They were responded to by an eloquent address from a lawyer from New Bedford, and another from Mr. Girod, of New York, representing Mr. Anderson. We were then dismissed, and the life at Penikese was begun.
THE ISLAND AND ITS SURROUNDINGS.
Penikese is an island of about one hundred acres in extent, and at its highest point about one hundred feet above the level of the sea. It is situated about fourteen miles north of New Bedford, Mass. It is sheltered from the open sea by the chain of Elizabeth Islands; the nearest, Cuttyhunk, being about two miles from Penikese, and the others, Nashawena, Pasque, and Naushon, stretching away for twenty miles to Woods’s Hole, at the lowest point in the bend of Cape Cod peninsula. Beyond these islands, oceanward, is Vineyard Sound, a sheet of water ten miles wide and twenty-five to thirty miles long. Then comes Martha’s Vineyard, twenty miles in length—then the great ocean. Through the passes between the four Elizabeth Islands, called by the fishermen “holes,” the tide enters with much force twice each day, bringing with it multitudes of fish in great variety. These are entrapped by cunningly-devised inclosures called pounds, several of which are located along the adjacent shores and islands. From these pounds the markets of New York and other cities draw their supplies of fish. From them, also, the school at Penikese reaped rich harvests of sharks, skates, sword-fish, and numerous other species, such as would not have marketable value. The northern limit of the gulf stream lying just beyond Martha’s Vineyard, the tropical seas occasionally send their life treasures by that current into these waters. Many specimens of tropical life were caught there during the summer.
THE ABUNDANCE OF LIFE.
The locality was rich in animal life. Besides all the usual varieties of life to be found on the land, there were some particularly abundant at Penikese. But the sea, with the island shores, was the inexhaustible source of supply. The radiates were represented by jelly-fish, sea-cucumbers, sea-anemones, sand-dollars, sea-urchins, and star-fish; the articulates by lobsters, common crabs, hermit crabs, king crabs, etc.; the mollusks by mussels, clams, naticas, pyrulas, whelks, etc., and the vertebrates by turtles and an endless variety of fish from the pounds. All these could readily be obtained for the aquariums, for study while living, or for dissection and preservation. The excursions in search of treasures for the laboratory were always rewarded with ample success, and were full of intense interest and enjoyment. A bed of star-fish discovered that season on the southern shore of Cuttyhunk, ten or twenty acres in extent, almost level, and only twelve or fifteen inches in depth at low tide, afforded literally bushels of these interesting creatures. A small bay on another side of the same island swarmed with limuli, or king crabs, of all ages, while on the shore were hundreds of their cast-off crusts, or skins, in perfect condition. Lobsters were obtained from the fisheries in the neighborhood. Those of us unaccustomed to the rich fauna of the sea were simply astonished and almost bewildered by the abundance of life within our reach and at our command.
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION AND STUDY.
At Penikese books were discarded, except for occasional reference, and the several students were encouraged to study the objects for which they had opportunity or special inclination. Each was also encouraged to select for himself some particular line of investigation and devote himself to that alone, and to a great extent this was done. There were the botanists, who gave special attention to the seaweeds and other plants; the ornithologists, who did nothing but collect, dissect, and preserve specimens of birds; the microscopists, who studied the diatoms and foraminifera and other microscopic forms, and made microscopic sections of tissues. One gave his entire attention to radiate animals, another to mollusks, and still another gave special attention to the development of the eggs of the tern. In the study of animals, about the first lesson impressed was the necessity of mastering their structure by the free use of the dissecting knife. For some days the toads of the island furnished specimens for the dissecting table; a day or two was devoted to the study of the internal as well as external structure of the lobster, each student dissecting one or more specimens. Then sharks, skates, star-fish, jelly-fish, flounders, sea anemones, turtles, birds, and even insects went under review in the same careful manner.
A second lesson urged was the importance of studying the development of animals while in the egg or embryo state. Döllinger, the father of the now noted Dr. Döllinger, and in whose house Agassiz lived for four years, was the founder of this branch of scientific research, and gave Agassiz his first lessons in Embryology. Agassiz often alluded to him in terms of most tender recollection and regard. This man commenced his investigations in 1817, by opening three thousand eggs in various stages of development.
Prof. Agassiz, while preparing the drawings and material for his study of the embryology of the turtle, published in the second volume of his “Contributions to the Natural History of America,” opened and examined many thousand turtles’ eggs. He frequently and earnestly urged attention to this, as an almost uncultivated field of research, and yet of vast importance in the solution of problems.