MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY. 



tees, passes upon all proposed changes in the 

 CoQstitution and By-Laws, hears an annual 

 report from the Director and the Treas- 

 urer and makes such recommendations con- 

 cerning the general policy of the Labora- 

 tory as it may desire. The Board of 

 Trustees, at first seven in number, now 

 consists of twenty-seven members, some of 

 them business men of recognized ability, but 

 most of them biologists representing prom- 

 inent educational institutions in almost 

 every part of the United States and Canada. 

 The Board has direct charge of the property 

 and funds of the Laboratory, elects the Di- 

 rector and Assistant Director, and has gen- 

 eral supervision of the scientific work. 



From the first the institution has been 

 under the directorship of Professor C. O. 

 Whitman, and it is but simple justice to say 

 that the remarkable success which has at- 

 tended it is due in large measure to the 

 high ideals and the untiring energy and 

 sacrifice of Professor Whitman. For twelve 

 years he has devoted himself to the Labora- 

 tory without compensation and with an en- 

 thusiasm which has served to inspire many 

 others with his own ideals concerning the 

 Laboratory and to enlist their hearty coop- 

 eration. 



In his address at the opening of the Lab- 

 oratory and in subsequent publications. 

 Professor Whitman took the position that 

 there was great need for a laboratory which 

 should represent, (1) the whole of biol- 

 ogy; (2) both teaching and research; (3) 

 the widest possible cooperation of educa- 

 tional and scientific institutions. Such a 

 laboratory should not be merely a collect- 

 ing station, nor a summer school, nor a 

 scientific woi'k shop, uor a congress of biol- 

 ogists, but all of these; an institution com- 

 bining in itself the functions and features 

 of the best biological institutes of the world, 

 having the cooperation of the biologists of 

 this country, and thus forming " a national 

 center of instruction and research in every 



department of Biologj-. " The history of the 

 Laboratory has shown that this ambitious 

 project is not only highly desirable, but 

 that it is entirely feasible and has justified 

 the claim of the Director that such an in- 

 stitution is the greatest need of American 

 biology. 



"The new laboratory at Woods Holl," 

 said the director in his first report, " is 

 nothing more and I trust nothing less than 

 a first step toward the establishment of an 

 ideal biological station, organized on a basis 

 broad enough to represent all important 

 features of the several types of laboratories 

 hitherto known in Europe and America. 

 * * * An undertaking of such magnitude 

 cannot be a matter of local interest merely, 

 and if it be pushed with energy and wisdom, 

 it cannot fail to receive the support of the 

 universities, colleges and schools of the 

 country." There was little in the early 

 conditions of the laboratory to justify such 

 high hopes. It began with no assured co- 

 operation, no constituency, a bare building, 

 no library, no private rooms for investiga- 

 tors, only a row boat for collecting and 

 with only two instructors, seven investiga- 

 tors and eight students. 



Since that time the growth of the labora- 

 tory in material equipment has been en- 

 couraging, while its growth in numbers and 

 in the scope and volume of scientific work 

 has been phenomenal. During the second 

 season $1000 was given to establish the 

 Glendower Evans Librarj' ; $2500 was 

 raised in Boston to establish two scholar- 

 ships at the laboratory as a memorial to 

 Lucretia Crocker, long a supervisor in the 

 public schools of Boston. During the 

 third season a lecture hall and library room 

 were constructed as an addition to the 

 building and the ' Gifford Homestead,' 

 together with about one-half acre of land 

 adjoining the Fish Commission was pur- 

 chased, the house being converted into a 

 dining hall ; a steam launch was also 



