A BIOLOGICAL FARM. 221 



find its chief purpose in demonstrations of the truth of evolution 

 or in testing the theory of natural selection. It is not a project 

 designed simply to turn out curves and formulae for the delecta- 

 tion of the knight-errants of statistical lore, nor is it the particular 

 pet of any school or fad. Moreover, the prevailing idea that it 

 has something in common with a zoological or botanical park 

 rests on a total misapprehension. The organization, management 

 and all the conditions obtaining in the public park are incongruous 

 with those required for a research farm. Heterogeneous collec- 

 tions of animals, exhibited for the amusement of people, are 

 wholly unsuited to the purposes of investigation in time, place 

 and character. For the kind of work contemplated, the investi- 

 gator must have forms of his own selection, collected, arranged 

 and kept for his special purposes. He must have complete and 

 permanent control of his quarters and the forms he is to study, 

 and above all, complete isolation from the public. Only under such 

 conditions could he have the unbroken quiet required in delicate 

 observation, or expect natural behavior from the forms occupying 

 his attention. 



The farm project, let me say in conclusion, is one we cannot 

 afford to see drawn away from Wood's Holl. It is an under- 

 taking born and nurtured here, on a small scale to be sure, but 

 still sufficient to give results and make clear the direct path to a 

 large and most important development. 



Hitherto we have felt perfectly secure in our right and ability 

 to control the direction and scope of our development. Whatever 

 compensation we may receive for the surrender of rights that go 

 with the transfer of ownership to another institution, let us have 

 no illusions. We shall henceforth only be a few among many 

 advisors on the questions that concern the scope of our work 

 and the enterprises that shall be permitted free development here. 

 We shall undoubtedly be left quite free to manage the details of 

 our work, but the decision of matters of far more fundamental 

 concern to all who are deeply interested in the ideal development 

 of a real biological center here-- questions of the broader limits 

 and character of our work --the decision of all this will certainly 

 not be wholly with us. Not to realize this, would be woful 

 blindness to the situation. The extent to which we can have and 



