62 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



the biology of the lower and minuter forms of life would probably disclose many hints 

 of the method of the origin of life itself, to say nothing of the practical value of such 

 inquiries. It would also disclose hints as to the methods of operation of the process 

 of organic evolution or the transformation of species. It is opportune for naturalists 

 all over the world to protest against the manner in which the study of the simplest 

 forms of life is dealt with in many of our colleges and universities. No sound con- 

 ceptions of the nature of the processes of life in the higher organisms can be obtained 

 without a study of those of the simplest ones. Nowhere else do the processes of life 

 present such simplicity in contrast with the appalling complexity of the life processes 

 of the higher types. Nowhere else do we find it possible to so closely approach 

 nature by way of experiment, to inquire what life is and what is the nature of its ulti- 

 mate machinery. Nowhere else can we hope to get such prompt reactions when these 

 minute beings are subjected to the action of drugs. Whether very dilute deleterious 

 chemical bodies when brought into relation with such microorganisms produce their 

 effects by dynamical and chemical agencies, or by means of endosmosis only, would 

 have profound bearings upon therapeutics and might be the means of laying the 

 foundations of the scientific principles of that science. This we assume to be probable 

 because the higher organisms are composed of aggregates of bodies, the so-called cells 

 of their tissues, which are, taken singly, the morphological equivalents of the unicel- 

 ular microscopic forms of life. 



The steps by means of which the infinitely little and seemingly useless beings 

 are integrated or developed into the indefinitely great and useful can be understood 

 only through prolonged observation and experiment. Germany has made a scientific 

 beginning in the study of the minuter as well as the greater life of the sea. America 

 can not afford to lag behind with the splendid equipment already in her possession in 

 the laboratories and vessels of the U. S. Fish Commission, which could be made a 

 hundredfold more efficient than at present if the enlightened policy and aims of Com- 

 missioner McDonald could be carried out. If an adequate permanent endowment 

 could be had for the great Government laboratory and hatching station at Woods 

 Holl, Mass., researches of the most far-reaching and valuable economic and scientific 

 importance could be conducted throughout the entire year. Here specialists, such as 

 physicists, chemists, biologists, morphologists, and physiologists should be employed 

 on the great economic and scientific problems presented by the fishery industries. 

 Here the sea, the mother of the primaeval life of the world, is accessible under the 

 best conditions. Here what still survive of the primaeval types can be had. Here 

 the processes of the development and survival of the useful species could be studied in 

 a way never before approached. 



Here, also, there would be the stimulus of research work that exists nowhere else 

 in America, since the Marine Biological Laboratory, close by, has been so successfully 

 developed by Dr. C. O. Whitman and his associates. Climatal, faunal, and other con- 

 ditions coexist that render Woods Holl probably the most advantageous locality for 

 these purposes that could be found on the eastern coast of the United States. An 

 endowment of one million dollars could not be more wisely bestowed than by using it 

 to place the great Fish Commission station at Woods Holl on a permanent basis, with 

 the United States Government as trustee. How judiciously and wisely such a tins 

 teeship has been conducted under the Government is sufficiently attested by the 

 unequaled scientific and economic results achieved under such an endowment and 

 under the administration of the three distinguished and successive secretaries of the 



