Look at Your Fish! by Samuel H. Scudder

'Look at Your Fish!' by Samuel H. Scudder Samuel H. Scudder (1837-1911) was an American entomologist who studied under the noted zoologist Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz (1807-1873) at Harvards Lawrence Scientific School. In the following narrative  essay, originally published anonymously in 1874, Scudder recalls his first encounter with Professor Agassiz, who subjected his research students to a rigorous exercise in close observation, analysis, and description  of details. Consider how the investigative process recounted here might be viewed as an aspect of critical thinking- and how that process can be just as important to writers as it is to scientists.   Look at Your Fish!* by Samuel Hubbard Scudder 1 It was more than fifteen years ago that I entered the laboratory of Professor Agassiz, and told him I had enrolled my name in the scientific school as a student of natural history. He asked me a few questions about my object in coming, my antecedents generally, the mode in which I afterward proposed to use the knowledge I might acquire, and finally, whether I wished to study any special branch. To the latter, I replied that while I wished to be well grounded in all departments of zoology, I purposed to devote myself specially to insects. 2 When do you wish to begin? he asked. 3 Now, I replied. 4 This seemed to please him, and with an energetic Very well, he reached from a shelf a huge jar of specimens in yellow alcohol. 5 Take this fish, said he, and look at it; we call it a haemulon; by and by I will ask what you have seen. 6 With that, he left me, but in a moment returned with explicit instructions as to the care of the object entrusted to me. 7 No man is fit to be a naturalist, said he, who does not know how to take care of specimens. 8 I was to keep the fish before me in a tin tray, and occasionally 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, wax-besmeared corks, half eaten by insects and begrimed with cellar 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 fish-like 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 passing feeling of disappointment, for gazing at a fish did not commend itself to an ardent entomologist. My friends at home, too, were annoyed, when they discovered that no eau de cologne would drown the perfume which haunted me like a shadow. 9 In ten minutes I had seen all that could be seen in that fish, and started in search of the professor, who had however left the 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 normal, sloppy appearance. This little excitement over, nothing was to be done but return to a steadfast gaze at my mute companion. Half an hour passed- an hour- another hour; the fish began to look loathsome. I turned it over and around; looked it in the face- ghastly; from behind, beneath, above, sideways, at a 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 carefully replaced in the jar, and for an hour I was free. 10 On my return, I learned that Professor Agassiz had been at the 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 feeling 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 that was nonsense. At last a happy thought struck me- I would draw the fish, and now with surprise, I began to discover new features in the creature. Just then the professor returned. 11 That is right, said he; a pencil is one of the best of eyes. I am glad to notice, too, that you keep your specimen wet, and your bottle corked. 12 With these encouraging words, he added, Well, what is it like? 13 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 had finished, he waited as if expecting more, and then, with an air of disappointment: You have not looked very carefully; why, he continued, more earnestly, you havent even seen one of the most conspicuous features of the animal, which is as plainly before your eyes as the fish itself; look again, look again! and he left me to my misery. 14 I was piqued; I was mortified. Still more of that wretched fish! But now I set myself to my task with a will and discovered one new thing after another until I saw how just the professors criticism had been. The afternoon passed quickly, and when, towards its close, the professor inquired: 15 Do you see it yet? 16 No, I replied, I am certain I do not, but I see how little I saw before. 17 That is the next best, said he earnestly, but I wont hear you 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. 18 This was disconcerting; not only must I think of my fish all night, studying without the object before me, what this unknown but most visible feature might be; but also, without reviewing my new discoveries, I must give an exact account of them the next day. I had a bad memory; so I walked home by the Charles River in a distracted state, with my two perplexities. 19 The cordial greeting from the professor the next morning was reassuring; here was a man who seemed to be quite as anxious as I that I should see for myself what he saw. 20 Do you perhaps mean, I asked, that the fish has symmetrical sides with paired organs? 21 His thoroughly pleased Of course! of course! repaid the wakeful hours of the previous night. After he had discoursed most happily and enthusiastically- as he always did- upon the importance of this point, I ventured to ask what I should do next. 22 Oh, look at your fish! he said, and left me again to my own devices. In a little more than an hour he returned and heard my new catalog. 23 That is good, that is good! he repeated; but that is not all; go 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. Look, look, look, was his repeated injunction. 24 This was the best entomological lesson I ever had- a lesson, whose influence has extended to the details of every subsequent study; a legacy the professor has left to me, as he has left it to many others, of inestimable value, which we could not buy, with which we cannot part. 25 A year afterward, some of us were amusing ourselves with chalking outlandish beasts upon the museum blackboard. We drew prancing star-fishes; frogs in mortal combat; hydra-headed worms; stately crawfishes, standing on their tails, bearing aloft umbrellas; 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. 26 Haemulons, every one of them, he said; Mr. - drew them. 27 True; and to this day, if I attempt a fish, I can draw nothing but haemulons. 28 The fourth day, a second fish of the same group was placed 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! 29 The whole group of haemulons was thus brought in review; and, whether engaged upon the dissection of the internal organs, the preparation and examination of the bony framework, or the description of the various parts, Agassizs training in the method of observing facts and their orderly arrangement, was ever accompanied by the urgent exhortation not to be content with them. 30 Facts are stupid things, he would say, until brought into connection with some general law. 31 At the end of eight months, it was almost with reluctance that I 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.*This version of the essay Look at Your Fish! originally appeared in both  Every Saturday: A Journal of Choice Reading  (April 4, 1874) and the Manhattan and de la  Salle Monthly  (July 1874)  under the title In the Laboratory With Agassiz by A Former Pupil.

The Best SAT Flashcards How to Make and Use Them

The Best SAT Flashcards How to Make and Use Them SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Studying for the new 2016 SAT and struggling to remember specific concepts? Flashcards might be a great study resource for you! Flashcards can help you memorize the information you need to know. In this guide, I’ll explain how to make SAT flashcards for vocabulary and math formulas and how to study with the flashcards you make. An important disclaimer before we start: I don’t suggest using flashcardsas your only method ofpreparation for the SAT; they should only really be used for memorizing SAT vocabulary and math formulas. Keep in mind that on the new SAT,vocabulary only accounts for 20% of the Evidence-Based Reading and Writing section questions,and it's all tested in the context of the passages. While flashcards are useful for preparing for those questions as well as memorizing Math formulas, theywon’t help you learn the SAT strategies. To really improve your score, you'll need to focus on learning test strategies and taking practice tests. Feature image credit: Deb Stgo/Flickr Why You Should Make Your Own SAT Flashcards I suggest creating your SAT flashcards by hand instead of buying pre-made SAT flashcards or creating online flashcards (using a website like Quizlet). By making your own flashcards by hand, you'll start to learn the information before you even start using the flashcards.I recommend writing them out by hand because rather than creating online flashcards because when you create the flashcards online, you’ll likely end up just copying and pasting information onto the flashcards without taking the time to read the information.Making physical flashcards will require that you read and transcribe all of the material, which means you'll start to learn the material as you go. If you don’t have a lot of time to prepare, you can download our 200 free printable SAT flashcards.But, again, if you have the time, I strongly recommend making your own physical flashcards. Creating SAT Vocabulary Flashcards When creating your vocabulary flashcards for the new 2016 SAT,since the SAT is becoming more like the ACT (testing vocabulary in context instead of using sentence completion questions), I suggest using ACT vocabulary words to study instead of using old SAT vocabulary lists.Use our PrepScholar ACT list, which teaches 150 medium-difficulty words, many with multiple meanings. If you’re still struggling with vocabulary after making those flashcards and want supplementary material, check out this 100-word list from Scholastic, which pulled SAT/ACT words from one of their student magazines. Again, it focuses on less-obscure words that often have multiple meanings. When creating the flashcards, write the word itself on one side of the card and the definition on the back.In addition to the definition, you must write an example of how to use the word in context, and if there are multiple definitions for the word, write an example of how to use the word in context for each definition. I’ll use the first word from our PrepScholar ACT list, "adhere," as an example. On the front of your flashcard, write: adhere On the back of your flashcard write: Definition: 1. stick completely to a surface or substance 2. believe in and follow the practices of Example: 1. I used the glue to adhere the picture to the poster. 2. The monkadhered to all of the principles of Buddhism. Why do you need to write an example using the word in context? As I said before, on the new 2016 SAT, you’ll no longer be tested on vocabulary through fill-in-the-blank type questions.Instead, the new SAT asks you to identify the meaning of vocabulary in context. Knowing the definition of the word is vital to understanding and answering the question asked, but typically the exact meaning of the word isn’t asked about directly. In other words, it's less about the vocabulary itself and more about how the vocabulary fits with the words around them.For example, on the new SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing section, you could be asked the following: In line 84, â€Å"adhere† most nearly means to stick to a surface to dive into to follow the practices of to acknowledge as correct Both A and C are definitions of adhere, so simply memorizing the definition will not help you answer the question.Line 38 read, â€Å"the priest adhered to Catholicism.†Knowing the definitions of adhere AND picking up on the context clues, you’d realize the correct answer is C. The answer can’t be A because the priest did not physically stick himself to a surface. The answer is C because the priest follows the practices of Catholicism. This question shows why it’s criticalto not only include definitions on your flashcards but also to include an example sentence using the word in context.If you’re struggling to come up with examples yourself (or are afraid of using the word improperly in context), I suggest conducting a Google Search for â€Å"[Word] definition.†Usually, that’ll bring up the definitions along with examples of the word used in context. For example, I searched for â€Å"adhere definition† and found this result with examples for both definitions of the word used in a sentence. Once you finish creating your SAT vocabulary flashcards, make flashcards for the SAT Math formulas. Creating SAT Math Flashcards On the SAT Math section, you're given nine mathformulas and two geometry laws. However, there are many more math formulas you need to knowbecause there are many questions you won’t be able to answer without knowing these additional formulas. When creating your SAT Math flashcards, I recommend using our list of 21 Critical SAT Math Formulas You Must Know. This list also tells you the formulas you DON’T need to memorize(since some are given to you on the SAT test). When making your flashcards, write the name of the formula on the front and the actual formula on the back.Also on the back, write what each variable in the formula stands for and the definition of the formula/concept.I’ll use the first formula (not provided on the SAT) from our list of 21 Critical SAT Math Formulas you must know as an example. On the frontside of my card, I'd write: midpoint formula On the back, I’d write: Given two points A $(x_1, y_1)$ and B $(x_2, y_2)$, use the midpoint formula to find the exact middle point of a line that connects point A and B (the point will be equidistant from points A and B and will be in between the two). Formula: midpoint = $((x_1 + x_2)/2) , ((y_1 + y_2)/2)$ Also, include what the variables stand for in order to remember the significance of the formula and how to use it.If you only memorize $x_1$, $y_1$, $x_2$, and $y_2$, on the day of the test, you may totally forget what $y$ and $x$ mean in the formula. Don’t memorize formulas as a bunch of random variables. Memorize the formula, formula definition, and what each part of the formula stands for, so you’ll be prepared to use the formula to answer questions. How to Study With Your SAT Flashcards Now that you have your SAT flashcards, how should you use them? At PrepScholar, we recommend the waterfall method to study flashcards.This technique requires you to focus on the words/formulas you don't know, while not wasting your time on the concepts you do know.The waterfall method was developed from a proven memorization method called Spaced Repetition.I’ll give a brief overview of the method, but check out our other article for a more in-depth explanation of the waterfall method. Start with 20-50 flashcards.I recommend studying the math formulas and Vocabulary separately, so you don’t get confused jumping between different subjects. Create a math formula pile with 21 cards. Then, create three piles of 50 vocabulary cards each (using the 150-wordPrepScholar ACT list). If you decide to use an additional vocabulary list, create additional Vocabulary piles. Go through onepile, looking at the word or formula name. If you know the definition or formula immediatelyput it in a â€Å"Know It† pile. If you couldn’t remember it immediately(or at all), put it in a â€Å"Struggled† pile.After going through all of the flashcards in the original, you'll have twopiles: a "Know It" pile a "Struggled" pile Pick up the â€Å"Struggled† pile and test yourself again. This time, create a new â€Å"Know It† pile and â€Å"Struggled† pile for these flashcards. You should now have three piles: the original â€Å"Know It† pile the new â€Å"Know It† pile the new â€Å"Struggled" pile Keep repeating this exercise (using the â€Å"Struggled† pile and separating into new â€Å"Know It† and â€Å"Struggled† piles) until you have five or fewerwords or formulas left in the â€Å"Struggled† pile. Now, combine the remaining â€Å"Struggled† pile with the most recent â€Å"Know It† pile. Test yourself on all of the words/formulas until you don’t get a single one wrong. If you get one wrong, restart the pile until you get zero wrong. Once you’ve mastered all of those concepts, add in the next highest â€Å"Know It† pile, and test yourself on all of those concepts until you don't get a single one wrong. Keep repeating until you have all of your original 20-50 cards in one stack, and once you go through that stack without making a single mistake, you’ll officially know every concept in that stack!Move on to the next stack, repeating the same method. How Much Time Should You Spend Studying Flashcards? While flashcards are helpful for the SAT, you shouldn’t spend all of your time studying these flashcards. I'd recommend spending at most 5% of your total SAT study time (two hours if you're following ourrecommendation of studying about40 hours for the SAT). Knowing vocabulary definitions and math formulas isn't enough to help you reach a high score on the SAT. As I said before, the new 2016 SAT only tests vocabwords in the context of sentences, and although knowing formulas is important for the math, you can answer the majority of the questions with only the ones provided to you. Flashcards should be just one small part of your SAT study plan.You need to be learning other new SAT strategies, learning the content of each section on the new SAT, and taking SAT practice tests to practice applying these strategies. What’s Next? Concerned about the Evidence-Based Reading and Writing section on the new SAT? Learn more about the section changes and strategies. Looking for more general new SAT prep help? Check out these guides on how to study for the new 2016 SAT and on how to figure out what’s a good new 2016 SAT score for your target school. Want to improve your SAT score by 240 points?We have the industry's leading SAT prep program. Built by Harvard grads and SAT full scorers, the program learns your strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics, then customizes your prep program to you so you get the most effective prep possible. Check out our 5-day free trial today: