A FOREIGNER'S TRIBUTE TO THE AGASSIZ MUSEUM.

Prof. Tittle, a prominent German naturalist, has paid the Agassiz Museum a great compliment in the following account, first published in Germany and translated for Science: "It is beyond question that the future development of geology and paleontology will be essentially influenced by America; but it seems to me, that, for zoology also, a model institution for the future, in many respects, has been created in the celebrated Agassiz museum in Cambridge, which probably will not be without influence on the development of museums of natural history in Europe. The genial founder of the 'Museum of comparative zoology,' as he called it, did not intend to have a brilliant exhibition, but a place for serious labor and study. And the great enterprize called into existence in 1860 by Louis Agassiz, has now been nearly completed, according to the ideas of the father, by the energy and the organizing talent of the son. Over three hundred thousand dollars were subscribed in a short time, when Louis Agassiz came to America, and announced a plan for the erection of his museum. A whole school of young zoologists grew up at Cambridge. Collections of all kinds were bought in the old and in the new world, expeditions were sent to far-away countries, and the depths of the sea were investigated. The ingenious investigator, who was always full of new ideas, had neither time nor patience for the sifting and arrangement of the extremely rich material: his son and successor undertook this task. As an administrator, Alexander Agassiz may be equaled only by a few; as a naturalist, he belongs, as his father did, to the first names of America. A large fortune makes it also possible for him to promote the interests of the museum financially. To him it must be attributed, that the museum has been entirely withdrawn from the influence of an often-changing government, and has been transferred to Harvard university."

The author describes the various special collections and concludes: "By a mere hasty visit to the exhibition-rooms no one will get an idea of the magnificence of the Museum of comparative zoology. Neither the building, nor the rooms inside, nor the exhibited objects, will make an especially imposing impression. But the strong point of this institution lies in the poculiar arrangement of the collection for the public, and in the strict separation of the large material for scientific investigations. By the constant development of science, by the improved accessibility of distant continents and islands, by the investigations of the depths of the ocean, collections of natural history will be enlarged almost to infinity; and it will be harder and harder to place them in our museums, and to preserve them. Everywhere buildings begin to be insufficient; and if we were to stick to the old system, according to which a museum exhibits nearly all its objects the large central depositories of natural history would grow to an enormous extent. The organization of the Cambridge museum tries to meet equally the demands of science and the wants of the public which comes for information, and in this sense I have called the Agassiz Museum a model museum for the future."