purchase the Fay House, the above-named ladies and others who had joined them legally became a corporation, with the title, "The Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women."
Under the popular name of "The Harvard Annex," invented by one of its students, the institution grew and flourished. Twice was the Fay House enlarged. In 1894, by act of the State Legislature, the name of The Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women was changed to Radcliffe College, the bill receiving the signature of Governor Greenhadge, March 23, 1894. It authorized Radcliffe to confer on women, with the approval of the President and Fellows of Harvard, all honors and degrees as fully as any university or college in the Commonwealth.
President of Harvard Annex from the beginning, Mrs. Agassiz was President of Radcliffe until 1900, when she tendered her resignation. The extent, character, and value of her services to the college in this long period are known only to those who have been associated with her in its management or have attended as students. She continued as Honorary President of the Associates of Radcliffe, who constitute its Corporation, and ex-officio member of the Academic Board and chairman of the Council, until the close of the academic year 1902-1903. On June 23, 1903, she presided at the Commencement exercises, and conferred degrees on ninety-nine candidates—eighty Bachelors of Arts, and nineteen Masters of Arts. In the preceding week she had resigned the acting presidency, feeling herself no longer equal to the responsibilities of the position; and Dr. Le Baron Russell Briggs, the second officer of Harvard University, had accepted the presidency of Radcliffe College, the choice being one which gave Mrs. Agassiz "much pleasure and entire satisfaction." Mrs. Agassiz's letter of withdrawal closed with these words:—
"I am grateful for the length of years which has allowed me to see the fulfilment of our cherished hope for Radcliffe in this closer relation of her academic life and government with that of Harvard. With cheerful confidence in her future, which now seems assured to me, with full and affectionate recognition of all that her Council, her Academic Board, and her Associates have done to bring her where she now stands, I bid farewell to my colleagues. At the same time I thank them for their unfailing support and encouragement in the work which we have shared together in behalf of Radcliffe College."
Released from her former responsibilities as ex-officio member of the Council and chairman of the Academic Board, Mrs. Agassiz remains (1903-04) as Honorary President of the Associates of Radcliffe.
Professor Louis Agassiz is survived by the three children above named — Professor Alexander, director of the Agassiz Museum; Mrs. Quincy A. Shaw, and Mrs. Henry Lee Higginson. Mrs. Agassiz continues to make her home on Quincy Street, Cambridge. She has also a summer cotUige at Nahant, overlooking the glacier-marked, wave-beaten cliffs of the North Shore, a short distance from the stone cottage built by her grandfather Perkins.
Going abroad with Miss Mary Felton, her niece, in 1895, Mrs. Agassiz spent a number of months in Italy, journeyed through Germany, France, and the Tyrol, and in England visited Newnham and Girton Colleges for women.
Mrs. Agassiz is the author or editor of the following named books: "A First Lesson in Natural History," by Aetata, 1859, republished in 1879 with the author's name; "Seaside Studies in Natural History," by Elizabeth G. and Alexander Agassiz, 1865; "Geological Sketches," 1866; "A Journey in Brazil," by Professor and Mrs. Louis Agassiz, 1868; "Louis Agassiz, his Life and Correspondence," in two volumes, edited by Elizabeth Gary Agassiz, 1885.
M. H. G.
EDNAH DOW CHENEY, one of the founders in 1862 of the New England Hospital, Boston, its secretary for twenty-seven years and president fifteen years, is numbered among the veterans of the forward movements in education, philanthropy, and reform of the nineteenth century.
