470 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



America needs to be reminded of this really fundamental truth more than Eng- 

 land does ; but, certainly, the greater proportion of new theories of the universe 

 — gloriously unfettered by any acquaintance with realities — which periodically 

 reach me, come from your side of the water; and I mourn over the waste of 

 power and of ingenuity which might have been prevented by three months' 

 work in a laboratory. I shall be very glad to hear of the success of your pro- 

 ject ; and all the more, that you propose to have it carried it out by private en- 

 terprise. I am yours very truly, T. IT. Huxlsy. 



Naples Zoological Station, January, 1892. 



Dear Peof. Whitman : You want my opinion on your plans regarding a 

 large zoological station. I think my opinion has found long since an expression 

 in a far more emphatic way than by ink on paper. Twenty and more years of life 

 I have bestowed on creating and organizing such a station, and you know your- 

 self how far I , have met with success, part of which may even be recognized in 

 your plan. 



Two things concur to make a station flourishing : money and good organiza- 

 tion. I have no authority to speak on your chance of finding money enough in 

 your country for your plans; I only lay stress on the fact that money and a good 

 deal of money is necessary to make a zoological station successful. It has been 

 for many years my constant preoccupation to raise the income of the Naples 

 station in order to satisfy all the wants science could wish for. I must leave to 

 your appreciation, whether the organization, which I have given to my establish- 

 ment recommends itself to others as satisfactory. I know myself well enough 

 where it is defective, and how it might be improved ; but I know also that there 

 are circumstances in the way that can not be easily removed. As it is, however, 

 it works tolerably well and has done in nineteen years of life some good service 

 to science. 



Should you succeed in raising money enough, I think you will be able to es- 

 tablish something so complete and so strong as to rival any existing establish- 

 ment of the kind. I for one do wish you all possible success in your enterprise. 

 Believe me, dear Prof. Whitman, yours most sincerely, Anton Dohbn. 



" Your project interests me greatly. Certainly such a station as you contem- 

 plate founding will be of the greatest importance to science." — August Weis- 

 mann, Freiburg. 



"An appeal to the 'upper ten thousand,' to the men who generously consider 

 not only the needs of the commonwealth, but also those of intellectual progress, 

 will not die away unheeded." — Rud. Leuckart, Leipsic. 



"Your communication concerning the erection on the North American coast 

 of a large national marine laboratory as a common center for zoological and bo- 

 tanical, morphological and physiological investigations on marine organisms, has 

 excited my keenest interest, and I hope that the considerable pecuniary support 

 so necessary for such an undertaking will be forthcoming." — Eenst Haeckel, 

 Jena. 



" I heartily sympathize with your desire to bring about the foundation of a 

 laboratory on the United States coast for the use of skilled investigators in 

 biology. . . . You ought to have at a favorable point on the American coast as 

 complete and well- organized an institution as that established by our friend Dohrn 

 at Naples." — E. Ray Lankesteb, London. 



