What Is Narration? 61 SAMUEL SCUDDER Samuel Scudder (1837-1911) was born in Boston and attended Williams College. In 1857, he entered Harvard, where he studied under the noted professor Louis Agassiz. Scudder held various positions and helped in founding the Cambridge Entomological Club. He published hundreds of papers and developed a com- prehensive catalog of three centuries of scientific publications in mathematics and the natural and physical sciences. While working for the United States Geological Survey, he named more than a thousand species of fossil insects. Although later scientists would question some of his conclusions, much of Scudder's work is still admired for its attention to detail. Take This Fish and Look at It CONTEXT: Today educators stress critical thinking, which begins with close observation. In this famous essay, Scudder relates the lesson in observation he learned under Professor Agassiz, whose teaching method was simple. Instead of lecturing, he directed his young student to "look again, look again." WRITER'S NOTE: Scudder omits unnecessary details such as dates, addresses, and even Professor Agassiz's appearance. It was more than fifteen years ago that I entered the laboratory 1 of Professor Agassiz, and told him I had enrolled my name in the intro sets time Scientific School as a student of natural history. He asked me a few questions about my object in coming, my antecedents generally, brief summary the mode in which I afterwards proposed to use the knowledge I might acquire, and, finally, whether I wished to study any spe- cial branch. To the latter I replied that, while I wished to be well grounded in all departments of zoology, I purposed to devote my- self specially to insects. uses dialogue "When do you wish to begin?" he asked. 2 "Now," I replied. 3 This seemed to please him, and with an energetic "Very well!" 4 he reached from a shelf a huge jar of specimens in yellow alcohol. "Take this fish," he said, "and look at it; we call it a haemulon; by and by I will ask what you have seen." gives directions With that he left me, but in a moment returned with explicit in- 5 structions as to the care of the object entrusted to me. "No man is fit to be a naturalist," said he, "who does not know 6 how to take care of specimens." I was to keep the fish before me in a tin tray, and occasionally 7 moisten the surface with alcohol from the jar, always taking care to replace the stopper tightly. Those were not the days of ground- glass stoppers and elegantly shaped exhibition jars; all the old students will recall the huge neckless glass bottles with their leaky, Take this Fish and Look at it annotated) from 'In the Laboratory with Agassiz,' by Samuel H. Scudder, from Every Saturday (April 4 1874) 16,369 370 62 | 4 NARRATION: RELATING EVENTS wax-besmeared corks, half-eaten by insects and begrimed with cel- lar dust. Entomology was a cleaner science than ichthyology, but the example of the Professor, who had unhesitatingly plunged to the bottom of the jar to produce the fish, was infectious; and though this alcohol had a "very ancient and fishlike smell," I really dared not show any aversion within these sacred precincts, and treated the alcohol as though it were pure water. Still I was conscious of a pass- ing feeling of disappointment, for gazing at a fish did not commend itself to an ardent entomologist. My friends at home, too, were an- noyed when they discovered that no amount of eau-de-Cologne would drown the perfume which haunted me like a shadow. In ten minutes I had seen all that could be seen in that fish, 8 and started in search of the Professor-who had, however, left the first impression Museum; and when I returned, after lingering over some of the odd animals stored in the upper apartment, my specimen was dry all over. I dashed the fluid over the fish as if to resuscitate the beast from a fainting fit, and looked with anxiety for a return of the nor- mal sloppy appearance. This little excitement over, nothing was to be done but to return to a steadfast gaze at my mute companion. Half an hour passed-an hour—another hour; the fish began to emphasizes look loathsome. I turned it over and around; looked it in the face boredom ghastly, from behind, beneath, above, sideways, at three-quarters' view—just as ghastly. I was in despair; at an early hour I concluded that lunch was necessary; so, with infinite relief, the fish was care- fully replaced in the jar, and for an hour I was free. On my return, I learned that Professor Agassiz had been at the 9 Museum, but had gone, and would not return for several hours. My fellow students were too busy to be disturbed by continued conversation. Slowly I drew forth that hideous fish, and with a feel- ing of desperation again looked at it. I might not use a magnifying glass; instruments of all kinds were interdicted. My two hands, my two eyes, and the fish: it seemed a most limited field. I pushed my finger down its throat to feel how sharp the teeth were. I began to count the scales in the different rows, until I was convinced that was nonsense. At last a happy thought struck me, I would draw discovers by the fish; and now with surprise I began to discover new features in drawing the creature. Just then the Professor returned. "That is right," said he; "a pencil is one of the best of eyes. I am 10 glad to notice, too, that you keep your specimen wet, and your bottle corked." With these encouraging words, he added: "Well, what is it like?" 11 He listened attentively to my brief rehearsal of the structure of parts whose names were still unknown to me: the fringed gill- arches and movable operculum; the pores of the head, fleshy lips, and lidless eyes; the lateral line, the spinous fins, and forked tail; the compressed and arched body. When I finished, he waited as if expecting more, and then, with an air of disappointment: "You have not looked very carefully; why," he continued more 13 earnestly, "you haven't even seen one of the most conspicuous 12 What Is Narration? 63 features of the animal, which is plainly before your eyes as the fish itself; look again, look again!" and he left me to my misery. I was piqued; I was mortified. Still more of that wretched fish! 14 But now I set myself to my task with a will and discovered one new initial thing after another, until I saw how just the Professor's criticism had reaction been. The afternoon passed quickly; and when, towards its close, the Professor inquired: "Do you see it yet?" 15 "No," | replied, "I am certain I do not, but I see how little I saw 16 before." "That is next best," said he, earnestly, "but I won't hear you 17 now; put away your fish and go home; perhaps you will be ready with a better answer in the morning. I will examine you before you look at the fish." This was disconcerting. Not only must I think of my fish all night, 18 studying, without the object before me, what this unknown but most visible feature might be; but also, without reviewing my dis- coveries, I must give an exact account of them the next day. I had a bad memory; so I walked home by Charles River in a distracted state, with my two perplexities. The cordial greeting from the Professor the next morning was 19 reassuring; here was a man who seemed to be quite as anxious as I that I should see for myself what he saw. “Do you perhaps mean," I asked, "that the fish has symmetrical 20 sides with paired organs?" His thoroughly pleased "Of course! Of course!" repaid the wake- 21 ful hours of the previous night. After he had discoursed most hap- pily and enthusiastically—as he always did-upon the importance asks for help of this point, I ventured to ask what I should do next. "Oh, look at your fish!" he said, and left me again to my own 22 devices. In a little more than an hour he returned and heard my new catalogue. "That is good, that is good!" he repeated; "but that is not all; go 23 on"; and so for three long days he placed that fish before my eyes, forbidding me to look at anything else, or to use any artificial aid. repeated "Look, look, look," was his repeated injunction. command This was the best entomological lesson I ever had a lesson 24 whose influence has extended to the details of every subsequent thesis/value study; a legacy the Professor had left to me, as he has left it to so of lesson many others, of inestimable value which we could not buy, with which we cannot part. A year afterward, some of us were amusing Ourselves with 25 chalking outlandish beasts on the Museum blackboard. We drew flash-forward prancing starfishes; frogs in mortal combat; hydra-headed worms; to humorous stately crawfishes, standing on their tails, bearing aloft umbrellas episode and grotesque fishes with gaping mouths and staring eyes. The Professor came in shortly after, and was as amused as any at our experiments. He looked at the fishes. 64 | 4 NARRATION: RELATING EVENTS "Haemulons, every one of them," he said. "Mr. drew 26 them." True; and to this day, if I attempt a fish, I can draw nothing but 27 haemulons. The fourth day, a second fish of the same group was placed 28 beside the first, and I was bidden to point out the resemblances and differences between the two; another and another followed, until the entire family lay before me, and a whole legion of jars covered the table and surrounding shelves; the odor had become a pleasant perfume; and even now, the sight of an old, six-inch worm-eaten cork brings fragrant memories. The whole group of haemulons was thus brought in review; and, 29 whether engaged upon the dissection of the internal organs, the preparation and examination of the bony framework, or the de scription of the various parts, Agassiz's training in the method of observing facts and their orderly arrangement was ever accompa nied by the urgent exhortation not to be content with them. "Facts are stupid things," he would say, "until brought into con- 30 nection with some general law." conclusion At the end of eight months, it was almost with reluctance that I 31 left these friends and turned to insects; but what I had gained by this outside experience has been of greater value than years of later investigation in my favorite groups. Understanding Meaning 1. What is the purpose of Scudder's narrative? What is he trying to impress on his reader? What makes this essay more than a simple "first day of school" story? 2. Why did the professor prevent Scudder from using a magnifying glass? What did Professor Agassiz mean when he said “a pencil is one of the best of eyes"? 3. What did Scudder find frustrating about Dr. Agassiz's teaching method? 4. Critical Thinking: How effective was Professor Agassiz's nineteenth-century teaching method? By directing a new student to look again, look again," did he accomplish more than if he had required Scudder to attend a two-hour lecture on the importance of observation? Is close observation a discipline most of us lack? Can you consider detailed observation the first level of critical thinking? Evaluating Strategy 1. How does Scudder focus his narrative? What details does he leave out? 2. Do his personal reactions to the smell and his frustrations dramatize an ex- tremely passive event? How can a writer create action in a story where the events are mental or emotional? 3. How does Scudder recreate his sense of boredom and frustration? 4. Blending the Modes: How does Scudder use description of the fish, the speci- men bottles, and the smells to provide readers with a clear impression of the laboratory
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