OX TEE TRUE AIM OF PETSIOLOGY. 825 



well be established. Not every physiologist will, like the great Harvey, 

 get a deer-park placed at his disposal by his king; but the forests and 

 fields, the lakes and rivers of Germany yield abundant material to the 

 investigator, and with our modern means of communication living 

 animals may be quickly dispatched from zoological gardens to physio- 

 logical institutes. The latter, however, avail themselves too little of 

 their opportunities. 



All the working material that can be obtained in this way, how- 

 ever, is but a very small fraction of what the sea affords, and he who 

 earnestly desires to further comparative physiology without laboriously 

 hunting for objects for examination must go to the sea-shore. But in 

 order better to approach the end in view without waste of time, labo- 

 ratories for physiologists ought to be constructed on the coast, espe- 

 cially in places where varieties abound. The aquaria which are being 

 erected in increasing numbers in Great Britain and France are admira- 

 bly adapted to the purpose. The zoological station at Naples, how- 

 ever, which owes its existence to the tireless energy of Professor Anton 

 Dohrn, has as yet no equal. Its scientific achievements, its interna- 

 tional character, its admirable organization, its favorable location, make 

 it, for purposes of physiological and morphological investigations, es- 

 pecially desirable. Having enjoyed the privilege of working there 

 during one winter, I am able to speak from experience of the eminent 

 services which the high-minded founder and manager of the Naples 

 Institute, the first of its kind, has rendered to the furtherance of the 

 true physiology. He, the first to accept functional change as the 

 principle of morphological and philogenetic inquiry, has also been the 

 first to recognize the advantages of the physiological investigations of 

 marine animals. 



It must frequently pain a naturalist to witness how untold living 

 treasure coming from the sea up to the surface in aquai'ia is allowed 

 to return to the dark deep as unworthy of observation and examina- 

 tion. And yet by experimenting on the superabundant and to the 

 physiologist irresistible wonders of the sea, more light may be thrown 

 on the relations of the phenomena of life, on the becoming and being 

 of the higher and the highest, and also the mental functions, than is to 

 be obtained by limiting ourselves, as has been the custom, to a few 

 animals of our own geographical environment. When, for instance, 

 we observe how star-fishes, generally supposed to be capable of reflex 

 movements only, will free themselves from fetters and difficult situa- 

 tions, like highly intelligent beings, in an amazingly dexterous manner 

 and with the nicest adaptiveness, how, Avith the precision and alacrity 

 of expert gymnasts they will vault from a piece of driftwood on to the 

 solid rock, or, while freely suspended, will change the dorsal attitude 

 into the normal one, remove entangled obstacles with their long spikes 

 braced against each other as circumstances require, like long-armed or 

 short-armed levers, and otherwise accomplish unexpected feats, we have 



