Unit 2 Campus Life
Text A Take This Fish and Look at It
Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) was a Swiss-born
American naturalist and
geologist, famous for his
studies of fossil fishes
and on geological evidence
for the ice ages. He grew
up in Switzerland and
became a professor of
natural history at University of Neuchâtel.
Later, he accepted a professorship at
Harvard University in the United
States.
• Samuel Hubbard Scudder (1837 –1911) was an
American entomologist and palaeontologist
（[‘pelɪɑn’tɑlədʒist]古生物学家） . Born in Boston,
Massachusetts， Scudder
may be most widely known for
his essay on the importance
of first-hand, careful
observation in the natural
sciences. The treatise on
inductive reasoning, entitled
"The Student, the Fish, and
Agassiz", reflects his initial experience under the
supervision of Louis Agassiz at Harvard
University.
Main Idea:
The author gives an account of his
first learning encounter with Prof.
Agassiz and the great influence of the
experience on his subsequent studies.
Check the Organization:
• How long did the author spend with
Prof. Agassiz studying fish before
turning to insects?
• How long did he study that fish?
• Scan the text to find the time slots,
making a list of words or phrases
indicating time.
• Scan the text to make out all the
conversations between Scudder and
Agassiz.
The finding is that in each time slot except the last one there
is an important conversation.
The text is divided into five parts:
• Scudder’s first morning in the lab can be characterized as
boredom and despair.
• By drawing the fish in the afternoon, Scudder discovered
new features in the fish but failed to notice its most
conspicuous characteristic.
• Scudder found one new feature after another when he
began to work in earnest and saw how just Prof. Agassiz’s
criticism had been.
• By the end of the third day Scudder had learned the best
entomological lessons in his life, one that was to guide his
subsequent study and research.
• The eight months Scudder spent studying fish was of
greater value to him that years of later investigation into
insects.
Questions for Discussion
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Why did Agassiz keep saying "look at your
fish"? What was he trying to teach Scudder?
How would you describe the stages in
Scudder's process of looking?
What happened at each stage?
How did Scudder change in the course of his
experience?
Explain why you think Agassiz's method of
teaching was either effective or not?
How might you apply Scudder's experience
to learning or to other academic activities?
• Agassiz kept saying "look at your fish", because
he wanted Scudder to see past the immediate
appearances. He was trying to teach Scudder to
go beyond the immediate appearances that he saw,
because those are dull and boring and everyone
can see those and he wanted him to learn how to
look at things from different perspectives.
Scudder’s process of looking at the fish was a
gradual one. He didn’t immediately see what
Agassiz was talking about and had to sit and study
the fish until he saw past the initial appearance.
At first when Scudder looked at the fish he only
saw the outside features and thought that was it
to see. Then when he couldn’t find the professor
anywhere he started to look at it more. Scudder
• looked at it from the other side, front, back, and
up and down and still couldn’t see anything else.
Then finally Scudder came up with a bright idea
and started to draw the fish. As Scudder was
drawing the fish he began to find new features in
the creature. At that point the professor came
back and said “That is right,”, “a pencil is one of
the best of eyes….” Agassiz then asked Scudder
what the fish was like and Scudder told him.
Agassiz said that all the information was correct,
but he was still missing one thing and Scudder
couldn’t think of it. Agassiz then told Scudder to
go home and think about it and come back and
answer him in the morning. The next morning
Scudder came in and said “Do you perhaps mean,
• that the fish has symmetrical sides and paired
organs?” Scudder was absolutely correct. How
Scudder changed during the course of the
experiment is he started to see things in a
different way and not the same boring point of
view. He was able to look past what popped out in
front of him and was able to see what was
underneath. I think Agassiz’s teaching was very
effective, because it gave Scudder a chance to
think on his own. But Agassiz's method requires
time and patience.
I would be able to apply Scudder's experience to
many things in my life, learning to take the time
to fully understand something and realize what it
is. How I might
• apply Scudder experience when I go to write or
do any other academic activities is put myself in
the same position he was in. I will lock myself in
my room with no contacts or anything. Then I will
try and make myself look at things in different
perspectives and won’t let myself out until I do.
• This is a classic account of the
importance of first-hand observation,
and careful, intense, focused study.
It teaches lessons that apply to
almost any discipline. Indeed, it is
widely used in colleges and
universities across the U.S. as a
teaching tool in both the humanities
and the sciences.