to choose their town. Necessary buildings and the use of a 

 suitable wharf were offered, and the Navy Department invited 

 the Commission to establish its laboratory and hatchery on 

 the northern end of Coasters Harbor Island, which was thought 

 not to be required for the Naval Training School. 



Experiments with hatching marine fish eggs during 1880 

 showed that the water around Newport contained an excessive 

 amount of sediment which settled on the eggs and materially 

 impaired their development. Furthernnore, the water of this 

 part of Narragansett Bay was polluted by the drainage of a 

 number of large cities (Newport, Fall River, Bristol, Providence, 

 and others). The water around Gloucester was also found 

 unsuitable because of high turbidity caused by sediment. The 

 conditions at Woods Hole were totally different. Baird (1884) 

 describes them in the following words: "the water is exceptionally 

 pure and free from sediment, and where a strong tide, rushing 

 through the Woods Hole passage, keeps the water in a state of 

 healthy oxygenation especially favorable for biological research 

 of every kind and description. The entire absence of sewage, 

 owing to the remoteness of large towns, as well as the absence 

 of large rivers tending to reduce the salinity of the water, 

 constituted a strong argument in its favor, and the station was 

 finally fixed upon for the purpose in question. " From a biological 

 standpoint the decision was sound and, as further developments 

 have shown, the laboratories at Woods Hole have been supplied 

 with sea water of high purity. At the present time, however, due 

 to the greater population density, increase in the size of the 

 scientific institutions, and large numbers of pleasure boats 

 visiting the harbor during the summer months, the water has 

 become polluted to such an extent that the taking of shellfish from 

 Woods Hole Harbor is no longer permitted by sanitary regulations 

 and swimming in Great Harbor is discouraged. 



Another biologically important characteristic of Woods Hole 

 water mentioned by Baird remains unchanged. Due to the absence 

 of large fresh-water streams, the salt concentration of Woods Hole 

 sea water is nearly constant throughout the year and does not vary 

 with the alternate changes of the tides. There are very few locations 

 along the eastern coast of the United States and in the Gulf of 

 Mexico where such a stability in the salinity of water can be found. 

 As Baird visualized it many years ago, this constitutes a great 

 advantage for "biological research of every kind and description. " 



The decision regarding the character of the marine laboratory 

 to be established at vVoods Hole was influenced by the success of 

 the first laboratory of this type organized in 1870-74 by Anton Dohrn 

 in Naples, Italy. The latter laboratory, which up to the present day 

 remains a mecca for biologists working with marine material, was 

 established as a private enterprise, financed primarily through 

 subscriptions by different European colleges and universities for 

 the use of laboratory facilities. Baird thought that the first permanent 



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