Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 77.djvu/435

Rh 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 memorial 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. Alexander Agassiz himself completed the construction of the zoological section in 1882 and other public-spirited men and women, including his two sisters, contributed to build other parts of the edifice, until at present 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 its zoological exhibits the museum is one of the clearest existing models of the system of Cuvier, for it must be remembered' 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 LL.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