ELEVENTH LECTURE. 



SOME OF THE FUNCTIONS AND FEATURES 

 OF A BIOLOGICAL STATION.i 



C. O. WHITMAN. 



I HAVE a few considerations to offer on a subject not quite 

 new, but perhaps not without some interest to a society of 

 naturalists. The subject may be stated in the form of a 

 question: What are some of the more essential functions and 

 features to be represented in a biological station ? This ques- 

 tion is one that may fairly claim the attention of a society 

 organized for "the discussion of methods of investigation and 

 instruction, and other topics of interest to investigators and 

 teachers of natural history; and for the adoption of such 

 measures as shall tend to the advancement and diffusion of the 

 knowledge of natural history." 



I know of no other organization in this country in which the 

 different sides of biology are more fully and widely represented, 

 and no other in which the discussion of such questions as I 

 have stated has been more explicitly invited. 



The question before us, as you perceive, is one of ideals, — 

 something which we can construct without the aid of an endow- 

 ment, and probably without any permanent loss of protoplasm. 

 And yet, what I have in mind is not wholly imaginery, for it 

 has some basis in experience and in acquaintance with some of 

 the best models. 



Let us first of all try to get at some general principle which 

 may serve to guide our judgment of ideals, and by the aid of 

 which we may be able to formulate an answer to the question 

 proposed. 



1 Presidential address prepared for the Ithaca meeting (1897) of the Society of 

 American Naturalists. 



