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The Student, the Fish, and Agassiz
The Student, the Fish, and Agassiz
by the Student
This bit of experience with a great teacher is an excellent example of right method going directly into the subject
itself instead of into books about the subject of study. Notice the many ways this article applies to Bible study.
It was more than fifteen years ago that I entered the
In ten minutes I had seen all that could be seen in
laboratory of Professor Agassiz, and told him I had
that fish, and started in search of the professor, who
enrolled my name in the scientific school as a student
had, however, left the museum; and when I returned,
of natural history. He asked me a few questions about
after lingering over some of the odd animals stored in
my object in coming, my antecedents generally, the
the upper apartment, my specimen was dry all over. I
mode in which I afterwards proposed to use the knowl-
dashed the fluid over the fish as if to resuscitate it from
edge I might acquire, and finally, whether I wished to
a fainting-fit, and looked with anxiety for a return of a
study any special branch. To the latter I replied that
normal, sloppy appearance. This little excitement over,
while I wished to be well grounded in all departments
nothing was to be done but return to a steadfast gaze at
of zoology, I purposed to devote myself specially to
my mute companion. Half an hour passed, an hour,
insects.
another hour; the fish began to look loathsome. I
"When do you wish to begin?" he asked.
turned it over and around; lo oked it in the face
"Now," I replied.
ghastly; from behind, beneath, above, sideways, at a
This seemed to please him, and with an energetic
three-quarters view just as ghastly. I was in despair;
"Very well," he reached from a shelf a huge jar of
at an early hour, I concluded that lunch was necessary;
specimens in yellow alcohol.
so with infinite relief, the fish was carefully replaced
"Take this fish," he said, "and look at it; we call it a
in the jar, and for an hour I was free.
Haemulon; by and by I will ask what you have seen."
On my return, I learned that Professor Agassiz had
With that he left me, but in a moment returned with
been at the museum, but had gone and would not re-
explicit instructions as to the care of the object en-
turn for several hours. My fellow students were too
trusted to me.
busy to be disturbed by continued conversation.
"No man is fit to be a naturalist," said he, "who
Slowly I drew forth that hideous fish, and with a feel-
does not know how to take care of specimens."
ing of desperation again looked at it. I might not use a
I was to keep the fish before me in a tin tray, and
magnifying glass; instruments of all kinds were inter-
occasionally moisten the surface with alcohol from the
dicted. My two hands, my two eyes, and the fish; it
jar, always taking care to replace the stopper tightly.
seemed a most limited field. I pushed my fingers down
Those were not the days of ground glass stoppers, and
its throat to see how sharp its teeth were. I began to
elegantly shaped exhibition jars; all the old students
count the scales in the different rows until I was con-
will recall the huge, neckless glass bottles with their
vinced that that was nonsense. At last a happy thought
leaky, wax-besmeared corks, half-eaten by insects and
struck me I would draw the fish; and now with sur-
begrimed with cellar dust. Entomology was a cleaner
prise I began to discover new features in the creature.
science than ichthyology, but the example of the pro-
Just then the professor returned.
fessor who had unhesitatingly plunged to the bottom
"That is right," said he, "a pencil is one of the best
of the jar to produce the fish was infectious; and
eyes. I am glad to notice, too, that you keep your
though this alcohol had "a very ancient and fish-like
specimen wet and your bottle corked."
smell," I really dared not show any aversion within
With these encouraging words he added
these sacred precincts, and treated the alcohol as
"Well, what is it like?"
though it were pure water. Still I was conscious of a
He listened attentively to my brief rehearsal of the
passing feeling of disappointment, for gazing at a fish
structure of parts whose names were still unknown to
did not commend itself to an ardent entomologist. My
me; the fringed gill-arches and movable operculum;
friends at home, too, were annoyed, when they discov-
the pores of the head, fleshly lips, and lidless eyes; the
ered that no amount of
eau de cologne would drown
lateral line, the spinous fin, and forked tail; the com-
the perfume which haunted me like a shadow.
pressed and arched body. When I had finished, he
waited as if expecting more, and then, with an air of
to me, as he left it to many others, of inestimable
disappointment:
value, which we could not buy, with which we cannot
"You have not looked very carefully; why," he con-
part.
tinued, more earnestly, "you haven't seen one of the
A year afterwards, some of us were amusing our-
most conspicuous features of the animal, which is as
selves with chalking outlandish beasts upon the black-
plainly before your eyes as the fish itself. Look again;
board. We drew prancing star-fishes; frogs in mortal
look again!" And he left me to my misery.
combat; hydro-headed worms; stately craw-fishes,
I was piqued; I was mortified. Still more of that
standing on their tails, bearing aloft umbrellas; and
wretched fish? But now I set myself to the task with a
grotesque fishes, with gaping mouths and staring eyes.
will, and discovered one new thing after another, until
The professor came in shortly after, and was as much
I saw how just the professor's criticism had been. The
amused as any at our experiments. He looked at the
afternoon passed quickly, and when, towards its close,
fishes.
the professor inquired,
"
Haemulons, every one of them," he said; "Mr.
"Do you see it yet?"
____________ drew them."
"No," I replied. "I am certain I do not, but I see
True; and to this day, if I attempt a fish, I can draw
how little I saw before."
nothing but
Haemulons.
"That is next best," said he earnestly, "but I won't
The fourth day a second fish of the same group was
hear you now; put away your fish and go home; per-
placed beside the first, and I was bidden to point out
haps you will be ready with a better answer in the
the resemblances and differences between the two;
morning. I will examine you before you look at the
another and another followed, until the entire family
fish."
lay before me, and a whole legion of jars covered the
This was disconcerting; not only must I think of my
table and surrounding shelves; the odor had become a
fish all night, studying, without the object before me,
pleasant perfume; and even now, the sight of an old
what this unknown but most visible feature might be,
six-inch worm-eaten cork brings fragrant memories!
but also, without reviewing my new discoveries, I
The whole group of
Haemulons was thus brought
must give an exact account of them the next day. I had
into review; and whether engaged upon the dissection
a bad memory; so I walked home by Charles River in a
of the internal organs, preparation and examination of
distracted state, with my two perplexities.
the bony framework, or the description of the various
The cordial greeting from the professor the next
parts, Agassiz's training in the method of observing
morning was reassuring; here was a man who seemed
facts in their orderly arrangement, was ever accompa-
to be quite as anxious as I that I should see for myself
nied by the urgent exhortation not to be content with
what he saw.
them.
"Do you perhaps mean," I asked, "that the fish has
"Facts are stupid things," he would say, "until
symmetrical sides with paired organs?"
brought into connection with some general law."
His thoroughly pleased, "Of course, of course!" re-
At the end of eight months, it was almost with re-
paid the wakeful hours of the previous night. After he
luctance that I left these friends and turned to insects;
had discoursed most happily and enthusiastically as
but what I gained by this outside experience has been
he always did upon the importance of this point, I
of greater value than years of later investigation in my
ventured to ask what I should do next.
favorite groups.
"Oh, look at your fish!" he said, and left me again
from
Appendix American Poems, Houghton, Osgood & Co., 1880
to my own devices. In a little more than an hour he
returned and heard my new catalogue.
After you've read the story at least once, write down
"That is good, that is good!" he repeated, "but that
any ideas you find there that might help you study the
is not all; go on." And so for three long days, he placed
Bible better. (Hint: What does the student do? Why?)
that fish before my eyes, forbidding me to look at any-
thing else, or to use any artificial aid. "Look, look,
If you want to dig a little deeper, list some ideas from
look," was his repeated injunction.
the story that would help you help someone else learn
This was the best entomological lesson I ever had
to study the Bible better. (What does the professor do?
a lesson whose influence was extended to the details of
And why does he seem to do it?)
every subsequent study; a legacy the professor has left
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