24 MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY. 



journals as the Zoologischer Anseiger, the Biologisches 

 Centralblatt, the Anatomischer Anzeiger, the Jotirnal 

 of the Royal Mic. Soc, the Zeitschrift f. wis. Mikros- 

 kopie, &c. Manifestly all such specialization is led by 

 the cooperative spirit. 



But it is not to the general tendency so much as to 

 our own special need that I would now direct attention. 

 We have now reached a point where our advance, both 

 individually and collectively, depends, far more than 

 ever before, upon the privileges, the opportunities, 

 and the many peculiar advantages inherent in the prin- 

 ciple of cooperative work. 



Among the ways of bringing together our scattered 

 forces into something like organic union, the most 

 important, and the most urgent at this moment, is 

 that of a national marine biological station. Such an 

 establishment, with a strong endowment, is unquestion- 

 ably the great desideratum of American biology. There 

 is no other means that would bring together so large 

 a number of the leading naturalists of the country, and 

 at the same time place them in such intimate helpful 

 relations to one another. The larger the number of 

 specialists working together, the more completely is the 

 organized whole represented, and the greater and the 

 more numerous the mutual advantages. 



Just consider what such an organization implies. It 

 means, first of all, a permanent staff of investigators, 

 with laboratories equipped for special research, and with 

 facilities for extending observation to different points of 

 our varied coast. It means boats, and all needful appli- 

 ances for collecting, dredging, etc. It means a corps 

 of trained collectors at the service of the investigators. 



