OYSTER CULTURE IN AMERICA. 721 



cution of the enquiry. Dr. Brooks, for the last six years, 

 has been the Director of the Chesapeake Zoological 

 Laboratory, an organization maintained at the expense of 

 the Johns Hopkins University, for the study of the mani- 

 fold forms of living creatures which are found upon our 

 sea-board. As long ago as 1878 he perceived the import- 

 ance of the oyster, in its economical and in its scientific 

 aspects, and began a series of prolonged, delicate, and 

 original investigations, respecting the mode by which the 

 young are propagated, and the conditions of their early 

 life. The discoveries which he made were published in 

 1879, and have been fundamental to further practical 

 attempts, on the part of Dr. Brooks and others, especially 

 Lieut. Francis Winslow, U.S.N., Mons. Bouchon-Brandely, 

 of Paris, and Mr. J. A. Ryder, of the United States Fish 

 Commission, to secure the successful artificial propagation 

 of the oyster in large numbers. They have also led to a 

 study of the conditions which destroy the life of young 

 oysters, and of the legislation which is requisite for modi- 

 fying these conditions. 



The report which follows discusses all these points. 

 Its preparation devolved upon Dr. Brooks, as chairman of 

 the Commission. I am confident that in all that he has 

 done or said he has been governed by one consideration 

 alone, a desire to ascertain the exact facts, and to state 

 them in such a way that others may understand them, and 

 thus be enabled to protect and develop one of the most 

 important industries of Maryland. 



He desires to have it known that the Report is in 

 great part a gift by the University to the people of the 

 State, since it would have been impossible for him to have 

 prepared it if the Trustees of the University had not allowed 



