shore of Great Harbor were acquired by purchase with the 

 money contributed by various parties. The annual report 

 of the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries for 1883, lists 

 the following parties who contributed the money: 



Old Colony Railroad Company $2, 500 



John M. Forbes 1,000 



Alexander Agassiz 500 



Johns Hopkins University 1,000 



Princeton University 1,000 



Williams College 500 



Isaiah Spindel and Company 500 



Mrs. Robert L. Stuart 250 



The subscribed funds and the land donated by Fay were 

 available to the Fish Commission only in the event of an 

 appropriation by the U. S. Government for necessary improvements. 

 The titles of the tracts of land to be conveyed to the U. S. Government 

 were investigated by the U. S. District Attorney for Massachusetts 

 and pronounced valid. Full jurisdiction over the land in question was 

 ceded by the State of Massachusetts on March 30, 1882. The value 

 of the property which the U. S. Fish Commission received as a gift 

 from private citizens and organizations was estimated not less than 

 $15,000. 



To facilitate the transaction, the deed to Fay's land in 

 consideration of one dollar and the funds contributed by others 

 were turned over to Charles F. Choate and J. Malcolm Forbes 

 as Trustees. They purchased the two smaller parcels from 

 individual owners and, on April 20, 1883, conveyed all the 

 acquired property, including the deed to Fay's land, to the United 

 States Government. 



To obtain the contributions, Baird offered the universities 

 continuous use of research tables in the proposed laboratory. In 

 a letter of September 3, 1881, to Forbes, Baird wrote as follows: 

 " . . . .1 have written to Alexander Agassiz (fig. 15) asking him 

 if he would like to join in the enterprise and promising him a 

 perpetual right to a table in the laboratory and the facilities of the 

 station to be utilized by anyone he may designate. This is the 

 system adopted at the Naples Aquarium, where establishment by 

 this means has been successfully maintained." 



Baird (1885, p. L.IV) states: "The colleges in question and 

 Mr. Agassiz made their contributions with the understanding that, 

 as far as possible, they were each to be allowed to send one 

 specialist to the station for the purpose of carrying on scientific 

 research. " This promise was continued to be honored by his 

 successors. On one occasion, in May, 1895, Commissioner 

 McDonald denied the privilege and stated "this agreement, as a 

 matter of contract, is not authorized by law; as a matter of courtesy, 

 it has been and will be carried out unless something intervenes to 

 make it impossible. " (Letter on file at the Bureau of Commercial 



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