Biographical Sketch 25 



attacked at some point on the ocean shore farther south, 

 and it revealed also the hitherto unknown fact that the 

 practical problems here in pressing need of solution could 

 be solved by common-sense application of scientific prin- 

 ciples. 



Professor Brooks's discovery that the eggs of the Ameri- 

 can oyster could be fertilized outside the body suggested 

 the development of an oyster industry along the lines in 

 use by the fish-hatching stations, and led to the establish- 

 ment of the Maryland Oyster Commission. As leading 

 and working member of this body, Professor Brooks made 

 an extensive survey of the oyster beds of Maryland and 

 concluded that the State had there a vast means for 

 development, which needed but the application of good 

 business management to rescue it from its condition of 

 neglect. From that date, 1882, Professor Brooks lived in 

 the belief that the people of Maryland would utilize the 

 great natural gifts of the Chesapeake by legislation that 

 would remove the oyster industry from a mere hunt to 

 the level of scientific agriculture. To this end he stimu- 

 lated popular interest and sought to appeal to those of 

 slow comprehension both by popular lectures and by his 

 popular book, "The Oyster," which was issued in 1891 and 

 reedited later. With characteristic persistence of pur- 

 pose he was loath to let the truth, be swamped by popular 

 conservatism and ignorance, and became so determined to 

 see the State enter upon the enjoyment of the fruits of 

 his labors that the oyster question and its ultimate solu- 

 tion played no small part in keeping Professor Brooks in" 

 Baltimore, when alluring opportunities for enlarged 

 activities were offered at a more northern university. 

 However, he was temperamentally more at home in the 

 non-nervous community of his adoption than in the bustle 

 of the strenuous life of denser populations. 



This interest in the practical value of zoological work 

 was sustained by several of his students, who, following 



