18 Selman a. Waksman 



4. Various other problems came up for consideration during these years. The most 

 important were the following: 



(a) A study of the agents responsible for the disappearance of eel-grass along the 

 Atlantic shore. Renn, who was appointed the senior assistant in marine bacteriology 

 after the resignation of Reuszer, undertook this task and made a notable scientific 

 contribution to it. 



(b) A study of the presence or development in the sea of bacteria antagonistic or 

 destructive to other bacteria. These particular investigations came toward the end of 

 my stay in Woods Hole, in 1941 and 1942, and were influenced largely by my major 

 interests at Rutgers on the antagonistic interrelations among micro-organisms and 

 the production of antibiotic substances. 



(c) The role of bacteria in the fouling of ship bottoms. This problem also came 

 toward the end of my work at Woods Hole and on the eve of World War II. Since 

 the chemists and biologists of the Institution soon took over this problem, it will no 

 doubt be reported in this volume in further detail. 



In addition to my work in the laboratory at the Oceanographic Institute, limited 

 periods were spent elsewhere in connection with some of the marine microbiological 

 problems. It is sufficient to mention two brief stays at the Bermuda Biological Station, 

 and various trips on the ocean-going laboratory vessels, such as the Atlantis. The 

 first were successful, since I had a first-hand opportunity to compare the bacterial 

 population and the bacteriological changes in the waters in a warm region with those 

 of cold regions. The ocean trips, however, were a complete failure, so far as I was 

 concerned. Under the threefold movements of the ship, I immediately became sea- 

 sick and had to leave the work largely to one of the assistants who always accompanied 

 me. After two valiant efforts to carry out studies on the moving boat, I made no 

 further attempts. Dr. Bigelow's comment, " Food was wasted on him ", was fully 

 justified, and I gave up further sea voyages for bacteriological exploration. Fortunately, 

 some of the assistants, especially Renn, Reynolds, and Johnstone, were excellent 

 sailors, and could take good care of the problems under consideration. 



Thus came to an end a decade of exploration of the sea for marine bacteria. The 

 following list of papers published from the Oceanographic Institution bears evidence 

 of the scope of the subject, the variety of problems involved, and some of the results 

 attained. It affords proof of the vision and far-sightedness of the founder of the 

 Oceanographic Institution and its first Director, Dr. Henry Bigelow, to whom this 

 note is gratefully dedicated. 



REFERENCES 



Preliminary papers: 



Bavendamm, W. (1931), The possible role of micro-organisms in the precipitation of calcium 



carbonate in tropical seas. Science, 73, 597-598. 

 Bavendamm, W. (1932), Die mikrobiologische Kalkfallung in der tropischen See. Bericht iiber die 



mikrobiologischen Ergebnisse einer in Jahre 1930 von der Universitaten Princeton und Rutgers 



(U.S.A.) untemommenen Forschungsreise nach den Bahama-Inseln. Arch. MikrobioL, 3, 205-276. 

 Waksman, S. A. and Bavendamm, W. (1931), On the decomposition of agar-agar by an aerobic 



bacterium. /. Bacteriol., 22, 91-102. 



Published papers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: 



Anderson, D. Q. (1940), Distribution of organic matter in marine sediments and its availability to 



further decomposition. J. Mar. Res., 2, 225-235. 

 Carey, C. L. (1938), The occurrence and distribution of nitrifying bacteria in the sea. /. Mar. Res., 



1. 291-304. 



