628 A MARINE UNIVERSITY. 



another collection of microscopical preparations, and finally an herba- 

 rium. All who have taught or studied biology do not need to be told 

 the. immense educational value of these collections. The li])rary — in 

 any institution, the fount to which all constantly repair — is provided 

 with many works of reference and the more important journals on 

 zoology and l)otany; but the expansion of science is so rapid that a 

 library of this kind is alwa3^s urgentl}^ in need of f requentl}' called-for 

 titles. 



All these ela})orate adjustments for studying the morphology and 

 evolution of marine organisms furnish the data for another set of 

 studies, al)ove alluded to under the term "biology." 



In his famous address "On the physical basis of life," Huxley said: 



Thus a nucleated mass of protoplasm turns out to be what may be termed the 

 structural unit of the human body. * * * Beast and fowl, reptile and fish, mol- 

 lusk, worm, and polype are all composed of structural units of the same character, 

 namely, masses of protoplasm with a nucleus. * * * Hent-e it apjiears to l)e a 

 matter of no great moment what animal or plant I lay under contribution for proto- 

 plasm, and the fact speaks volumes for the general identity of that substance in all 

 living beings. 



The unity of protoplasm is the ultimate raison d'etre for the Woods 

 Hole la])oratory. In the protoplasm of a polypii may be wrapped up 

 a secret of vast importance to the welfare of the human race. 



This is the thought imderhnng the courses in comparative physiol- 

 ogy and embryology, as shown in the following (Quotations:" 



* * * It is our problem to get an imderstanding of the various life phenomena. 

 It happens that while the solution of one physiological i^roblem is almost impossible 

 among certain vertebrates or certain arthrojiods, tlie conditions in one definite arth- 

 ropod or in an ascidian, or some other animal may be such as to make the solution 

 almost self-evident. In the various forms of the animal kingdom nature has prepared 

 just as many experiments as we might wish to accomplish by our vivisectional method, 

 but without the disadvantages of that method. We can, for example, study the 

 automaticity of contractile tissue far more readily in the pulsatile bell of the medusa 

 than in the vertebrate heart. In the medusa, by one snip of the scissors, we have a 

 contractile tissue deprived of nerves without elaborate vivisection. The influence 

 on protoplasm of lack of oxygen may also be readily studied from a comparative 

 standpoint. From the (chemical transformations going on in large masses of similar 

 cells the inference" may be drawn that cells deprived of oxygen undergo hydrolytic; 

 splittings by which insoluble bodies may Ijecome soluble. But by placing various 

 infusoria or developing eggs under the microscope this fact may with ease be ren- 

 dered visible. The membranes and more solid portions of the infusorian may be 

 seen to dissolve and disappear, leading to a complete disorganization of the cell. 

 * * * It may truthfully be said that the problem of heredity is one of the most 

 important i)roblems of physiology at the present time. The reasons why a given 

 mass of cells devcdops into a given organ of a certain sliaj)e, size, and position can 

 evidently only be ascertained by experimental physiology. The study of the phe- 

 nomena of development and organization must bcnce form a part of any cmurse in 

 comparative i)hysiology. 



" Ninth report of the Marine Biological Laboratory, 1896, 199. 



