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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



tanks, within the walls of the lahoratory. It enabled the living organ- 

 isms to be studied almost in their native haunts by the most refined 

 laboratory methods. 



Thirty years ago the biological station was almost unknown; now 

 there are, I sujopose, about fifty or possibly more, large and small, scat- 

 tered along the shores of the civilized world from the arctic circle to the 

 tropics and Australia, from western California to far Japan in the 

 East — and of these the parent institution, and by far the finest and 

 most important, is the world-renowned 'Stazione Zoologica,' under the 

 direction of Dr. Anton Dohm, at Naples. 



It is almost impossible to think of the Xaples station apart from 

 Anton Dohrn. He is the founder, benefactor, director, the center of 



The Naples Zoological Station. 



all its activities, the source of its inspiration. He established the first 

 building in 1872, and, although he has had support from the German 

 and Italian Governments and from scientific institutions all over the 

 world, still I believe it is no secret that his own private fortune used 

 unsparingly has contributed much to the permanence and success of 

 the undertaking. He has fostered and directed it continuously for 

 nearly thirty years : the twenty-fifth anniversary of the foundation was 

 celebrated on the 14th of April, 1897, by a remarkable memorial in 

 which all the leading biologists of the world were united. 



The international character of the institution is a most interesting 

 and important feature. Situated in the south of Italy, founded and 



