[Reprinted from Science, N. S., Vol. XL, No. 270, Pages 233-2U, March 3, 1900.'] 



THE MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY. 



The twelfth annual session of the Marine 

 Biological Laboratory at Woods Holl, 

 Mass., which was held during the past 

 summer, was lacking in none of the ele- 

 ments of interest and success which have 

 made former sessions notable, while several 

 new and valuable features were added last 

 year for the first time. In addition to the 

 regular courses of instruction in Zoology, 

 Embryology and Botany, there was given 

 last year, under the direction of Professor 

 Loeb, a course on Comparative Physiology. 

 Such a course can be given advanta- 

 geously onlj^ at the seashore where living 

 animals of all classes may be had in abun- 

 dance. In the organization of this course 

 the Woods Holl Laboratory has taken a 

 unique and advanced position which can- 

 not fail to yield valuable results not 

 only to research but also to physiological 

 instruction throughout the country. An- 

 other notable feature was the course of 

 lectures and demonstrations in Compara- 

 tive Psychology given by Dr. Thorndike. 

 This course was followed with the keenest 

 interest by a large number of persons at 

 Woods Holl. The general lectures, a vol- 

 ume of which is published annually, were 

 unusually numerous and valuable. The fa- 

 cilities for dredging in deep water and for 

 making extensive collecting trips were 

 never before so good, thanks to the courte- 

 sies of the Fish Commission Station. The 

 United States Fish Commission steamer, 

 Fishhmvk and schooner Grampus, were sta- 

 tioned at Woods Holl and they, with the 



smaller vessels of the Commission and of 

 the Marine Biological Laboratory, formed a 

 fleet of vessels equipped for scientific work 

 such as has rarely assembled in one place 

 before. 



The attendance at the Laboratory was 

 gratifyingly large ; there were seventy-one 

 investigators and seventy-eight students, 

 representing sixty-nine different schools, 

 colleges and universities. When it is re- 

 membered that there were last year three 

 other marine laboratories on our Atlantic 

 coast, offering their facilities freely, or for 

 much less than the fee at the Marine Bio- 

 logical Laboratory, there is all the more 

 reason for satisfaction at the large number 

 in attendance. In the character and variety 

 of the research work done the past season 

 was not excelled by any preceding one, and 

 in some respects it surpassed them all. 



All these features show that the Marine 

 Biological Laboratory is to-day, as much as 

 at any time in its past history, the center of 

 biological instruction and investigation in 

 this country. This can still be said in spite 

 of the fact that there are numerous other 

 marine and fresh water stations in this 

 country, which are doing excellent work 

 and are worthy of generous praise and sup- 

 port. However, no other American station 

 has the national and even cosmopolitan 

 character of the Woods Holl Laboratory ; 

 no other enjoys the coiiperation of so large 

 a number of educational and scientific in- 

 stitutions, no where else is the whole field 

 of biology so fully represented and no other 



