The Mentor: American Naturalists, Vol. 7, Num. 9, Serial No. 181, June 15, 1919

The poet does not so much read in Nature's book--though he does this too--as write his own thoughts there; Nature is the page and he the type, and she takes the impression he gives. Of course the poet uses the truths of Nature also, and he establishes his right to them by bringing them home to us with a new and peculiar force--a quickening or kindling force. What science gives is melted in the fervent heat of the poet's passion, and comes back supplemented by his quality and genius. He gives more than he takes, always.

JOHN BURROUGHS.

JUNE 15th, 1919 VOLUME 7 NUMBER 9

Entered as second-class matter, March 10, 1913, at the postoffice at New York, N.Y., under the act of March 8, 1879; Copyright, 1919, by The Mentor Association, Inc.

IN THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, NEW YORK

One

"Audubon," says a recent biographer, Dr. Francis Hobart Herrick, "did one thing in particular, that of making known to the world the birds of his adopted land, and did it so well that his name will be held in everlasting remembrance." The father of the future naturalist was a French seafaring man and merchant-adventurer. While engaged in the sugar trade he frequently visited the port of Aux Cayes, in the island then called Santo Domingo, but now known as Haiti. As a dealer in West Indian commodities, Captain Audubon became a man of fortune. The son born to him and a lady of French origin at Aux Cayes, in 1785 (not in Louisiana in 1780, as some writers give it), was christened Jean Jacques Fougère. On being taken by his father to Nantes, France, when he was four years old, the little boy was received into the household of Madame Audubon, his step-mother, and given the name of his father, Jean Audubon.

Even at this early period of his life young Audubon forsook his classes at school to roam the woods searching for birds' nests. In his early teens he began to make drawings of birds that appeared near his home on the west coast of France. For a short time he studied in Paris under the famous artist, Jacques Louis David. At eighteen, Audubon was sent to America to learn the English language and the business methods of the New World. The tall, handsome boy found much happiness in discovering the wild denizens of his father's farm, "Mill Grove,"--a small estate near Philadelphia purchased by Captain Audubon during a visit to the United States. Here Audubon first had opportunity to study American bird life. He was a Nature lover, and he was also a gay young dandy, "notable for the elegance of his figure and the beauty of his features." When he met the charming Lucy Bakewell, whose father owned an adjoining estate, he immediately loved and courted her. It was she who became the guiding spirit of his life, who inspired him and, with material assistance, aided him to achieve his ambitions. Though engaged in business, the youth's heart was in the woods and fields. His method of posing lifeless subjects was unique, and his drawings were expertly done and very natural.

In 1808, Audubon married Lucy Bakewell and took her to live in the frontier settlement of Louisville, Kentucky. There a son was born. With a wife and child to support, Audubon continued his career as a merchant, and for several years owned and operated a store and mill at Henderson, Kentucky. In 1819 he failed in business, saving only a few personal possessions, including his drawings and his gun. As taxidermist, teacher and artist he earned a scant living during several disheartening years. His wife took a position as governess, and later became mistress of a private school in the South. The impelling motive of the naturalist's life was now the publication of his "Ornithology," for which he continued to make drawings under the most adverse conditions. Often he was reduced to painting signs and giving music and dancing lessons. To earn a passage on a boat during an exploring tour he would sometimes offer to do crayon portraits of the captain and passengers.

Audubon's genius as a portrayer of birds was in time recognized by America's foremost artists. When he exhibited his work in England and Scotland in 1826, he was elected to membership in eminent societies. He resolved to publish his drawings under the title, "The Birds of America," all to be "engraved on copper, to the size of life, and colored after the originals." The work was eventually issued (1838) in eighty-seven parts, which contained four hundred and thirty-five plates depicting more than a thousand individual birds, besides trees, flowers and animals native to the continent of North America. In America the price of the parts complete was one thousand dollars. Today a perfect set is valued at four times the cost of the original. Many famous men and institutions were numbered among Audubon's subscribers to his various works on birds and mammals. Sometimes accompanied by his sons, he traveled from Labrador to Florida and from Maine almost as far west as the Rockies, in his search for bird and animal models.

In 1842, Audubon took possession of a fine house he had built on an estate overlooking the Hudson, near what is now 155th Street, New York. Nine years later, "America's pioneer naturalist and animal painter" died here, surrounded by his devoted family. The house he erected remains in a fair state of preservation on a secluded plot of ground below Riverside Drive, and part of the land owned by him has been given the name, Audubon Park. His body rests on the hill above his home, in Trinity Cemetery, amid friendly trees that gave shade to the likely spot during his life time.

Audubon Societies exist in many parts of America. The National Association of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals is an active monument to the work and ideals of the great naturalist.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 7, No. 9, SERIAL No. 181 COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.

IN THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, NEW YORK

Two

In a picturesque parsonage on the shore of the Swiss Lake of Morat, there was born on May 28, 1807, a child who was baptized Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz. His mother recognized early in his life the peculiar attraction of her son to Nature's creatures. His intuitive understanding of animals and fishes she carefully nurtured. With his younger brother, Auguste, the small Louis delighted to catch the finny inhabitants of Lake Morat by dexterous methods of his own invention. He was taught until he was ten by his father, a clergyman, and his mother, a woman of excellent taste and education. At fourteen, when he was graduated from a boys' school at Bienne, he defined his aims in this mature fashion: "I wish to advance in the sciences. I have resolved, as far as I am allowed to do so, to become a man of letters." In later years he wrote, "At that age, namely, about fifteen, I spent most of the time I could spare from classical and mathematical studies in hunting the neighboring woods and meadows for birds, insects, and land and fresh-water shells. My room became a little menagerie, while the stone basin under the fountain in our yard was my reservoir for all the fishes I could catch."

At his eager request, Louis was permitted to spend two years at the College of Lausanne, Switzerland, where he pursued with enthusiasm the study of Nature. He afterwards attended the University of Zurich and the University of Heidelberg. At the latter famous seat of learning the young Swiss naturalist, who intended to become a physician, pursued the study of anatomy, and passed hours collecting, arranging and analyzing plant and mineral specimens. At the age of twenty he became a student at the University of Munich, where he found of the highest interest the study of the natural history of the fresh-water fishes of Europe, while continuing his courses in medicine. The first work that gave his name distinction was a description, written in Latin, of a collection of Brazilian fishes that had been brought back from South America by the noted scientists, Martius and Spix. His profits consisted of only a few copies of the book, but the results were gratifying, as his work brought him to the favorable notice of Cuvier (coo-vee-ay), the renowned French naturalist, who consulted the descriptions of Agassiz in writing his own "History of Fishes."

In 1830, Agassiz went to Paris, where he enlisted the friendly help of Cuvier and the great Alexander Humboldt. It was his habit to work fifteen hours a day at the Museum of Natural History. He had only a small allowance from his father, and he was often hampered by poverty.

Returning from Paris, Agassiz lectured on natural history subjects in his native country. His exceptional ability attracted the interest of scientific men throughout Europe and he received many honors and complimentary invitations. In 1833 he married the sister of his intimate friend, Alexander Braun, the botanist. The art of his wife in drawing and coloring illustrations for his volumes on fishes was of the greatest assistance to him. In the years that immediately followed his marriage, Agassiz became interested in glacial research and was an important member of extended summer explorations in the Alps. His theories relating to the structure of glaciers were incorporated in a book entitled "_Système Glaciare_."

Having for some time desired to continue his researches in the United States, it was with delight that he received in 1846 an invitation to give a course of lectures in Boston. As a lecturer he met with such brilliant success that he was subsequently appointed professor of natural history at Harvard. From this time until his death in 1873, Professor Agassiz was identified with the cause of science in the United States. His work as a teacher was supplemented by repeated excursions to various parts of the continent with the object of studying forests, geological formations and zoology. Though he had views that were then in opposition to popular opinion, it has been said that, "everywhere and foremost a teacher, no educational influence of his time was so great as that exerted by him."