MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY. 



American laboratory is so productive iu 

 original work, nor has so large a number of 

 investigators and students. 



The Marine Biological Laboratory is a 

 shining illustration of the fact that men and 

 not buildings nor material equipment make 

 an institution great. There is probably no 

 other educational or scientific institution 

 in the world which on so small a financial 

 basis has accomplished so great a work. 

 This work is of such scientific and educa- 

 tional value and the Laboratory stands for 

 so fine an ideal of scientific cooperation that 

 a brief account of its history and work 

 should not be wholly lacking in interest or 

 suggestiveness. 



The Laboratory can claim to be a lineal 

 descendant of the first marine laboratory 

 in America, the school established by 

 Louis Agassiz in 1873, on the island of 

 Penikese, in Buzzards Bay. The Penikese 

 Laboratory was abandoned iu 1874 at the 



fortunate location of the laboratory on an 

 isolated island, and above all by the death 

 of the man whose genius had created it and 

 who alone was able to secure the scientific 

 cooperation necessary to its maintenance. 

 After the closure of the Penikese Labora- 

 torj^ an attempt was made to secure the 

 cooperation of educational and scientific in- 

 stitutions in establishing a marine labora- 

 tory at Woods Holl, but the support was 

 not forthcoming at that time and the proj- 

 ect was abandoned. 



In 1880 the Woman's Educational As- 

 sociation of Boston, acting in cooperation 

 with the Boston Society of Natural Historj^ 

 opened a seaside laboratory at Annisquam, 

 Mass. , and this continued in operation for 

 six years. In 1886 the supporters of that 

 laboratory addressed a circular letter to 

 many leading biologists in this country ask- 

 ing their cooperation in the work of estab- 

 lishing the laboratory on a broader basis. 



Fig. 1. JIaiii lUiililing, Mariue Biological Laboratory. 



close of its second session, after having re- 

 ceived in buildings, equipment and endow- 

 ment, more money than has been given to 

 the Marine Biological Laboratory during 

 the twelve years of its history. This step 

 was made necessarv on account of the un- 



In March, 1887, a meeting of persons inter- 

 ested in the enterprise was held in Boston, 

 and a committee was appointed " to perfect 

 plans for the organization of a permanent 

 seaside laboratory, to elect trustees and to 

 devise ways and means for collecting the 



