THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 



203 



THE PKOGRESS OF SCIENCE 



THE MARINE BIOLOGICAL 

 LABORATORY 



Louis Agassiz established in 1873 a 

 marine biological laboratory on the Is- 

 land of Penikese in Buzzard 's Bay, 

 south of Wood's Hole. Following his 

 death the school was abandoned, but 

 the plan was renewed in 1880 by the 

 establishment of a seaside laboratory 

 at Annisquam, in which Alpheus Hyatt 

 was especially active. In 1888, the lab- 

 oratory was reorganized and placed at 

 Wood's Hole, where Spencer Baird had 

 in 1881 established the marine labora- 

 tory of the U. S. Fish Commission. 

 The natural advantages of fauna, cli- 

 mate and accessibility make Wood's 

 Hole an ideal situation, and under the 

 direction of C. O. Whitman a group of 

 investigators gathered there in the sum- 

 mer who made the laboratory the chief 

 center of biological research in this 

 country and elsewhere only rivaled by 

 Naples. After the death of Whitman, 

 Professor Frank R. Lillie, of the Uni- 

 versity of Chicago, was made director, 

 and later Professor Gilman A. Drew be- 

 came assistant director, residing perma- 

 nently at Wood's Hole. The labora- 

 tory has continued to grow in size and 

 influence until last year there were 122 

 investigators and 69 students at wprK. 

 If they were paid for their investiga- 

 tions at the rate other research institu- 

 tions pay the cost would be more than 

 half a million dollars a year. 



As a matter of fact the laboratory 

 has been conducted practically without 

 endowment and with the simplest 

 buildings and equipment. Some thirty 

 universities and other institutions have 

 cooperated in a modest way, but the 

 work of the laboratory has been essen- 

 tially a contribution of the biologists 

 working there. There was urgent need 

 of a fire-proof building that could re- 

 main open in the winter, and this has 



now been provided by Mr. Charles R. 

 Crane, of Chicago, who in recent years 

 has been the generous and sympathetic 

 patron of the laboratory. 



The building, an illustration of which 

 is here shown, was planned by Mr. 

 Charles Coolidge, of Boston, his de- 

 signs being a gift to the laboratory, of 

 which he has long been a trustee. The 

 detailed arrangements are the result of 

 much study with the help of many biol- 

 ogists and other laboratory men, and 

 they have been admirably carried out 

 by the assistant director, Dr. Drew. 

 The building— 50 X 90 feet— is con- 

 structed of tapestry brick with wide 

 joints resting on a granite foundation, 

 and trimmed with gray stone. It faces 

 south on the Wood's Hole Harbor, 

 about 150 feet away. The basement 

 contains the chemical-supply room,, 

 janitor's quarters, heating plant, pack- 

 ing room and toilets. The first floor is. 

 divided into research rooms for zoology 

 and physiology. A library with shelv- 

 ing for 20,000 volumes occupies the 

 south half of the second floor with ac- 

 cession and storage rooms. The re- 

 mainder of the floor and the third floor 

 are occupied by research rooms. The 

 roof carries a tank house with two tanks 

 for salt water of 10,000 gallons each. 

 The. entire interior construction is of 

 steel and reinforced concrete, with par- 

 titions of tile and granolithic floors, 

 completely fire-proof. 



The salt-water circulation is driven 

 by electric automatically controlled 

 motors, which open into two hard rub- 

 ber pumps with a daily capacity of 75,- 

 000 gallons each. A gasolene engine •- 

 held in reserve in case of breakdown of 

 the electric power service. The pipes 

 and valves are all of lead, so that me- 

 tallic contamination of the water can 

 not possibly occur; the harbor water is 



