36 . EEY. MOSES HAEVEY ON 



a station. Practical instruction in the best modes of conducting fish-culture in all its 

 branches would be given, and thus in such a school would be trained numbers of young 

 men who would be qualified to take charge of hatcheries for the artificial propagation of 

 l)oth fresh and salt water fishes. At present the number of those who possess svich quali- 

 fications is extremely limited, while the demand for their services is ever increasing. 

 Classes of students from the Universities might profitably spend a few weeks each summer 

 at such a Biological .station, engaged in the study of marine life in particular, and in 

 general, of the animal and vegetable resources of the sea. The national importance of 

 such a training school will be evident at a glance. 



The interests of pure biology, as a science, would be served by such an institution. 

 The secrets of organic life are to be sought out best in the world of waters ; and conflicting 

 hypotheses regarding the origin and development of life are best proved or disproved by 

 researches in sea areas. For modern investigations have shown that in variety of forms 

 of life the sea is not less rich than the land. The fertility of the sea in fishes, crustacea, 

 zoophytes, the lowest forms of sponge life, molluscs, etc., becomes more astonishing as 

 researches are extended. In particular, the sea is the great magazine of invertebrate forms 

 in which life is seen in its simplest shape, and here the student of invertebrate physio- 

 logy must look for his materials. But all science, in the long run, will be found to have 

 a practical bearing in some shape. And if we want to increase the quantities of our food 

 fishes, our lobsters and oysters, all our operations must rest on a scientific foundation, and 

 all our regulations of our fisheries must have their basis in a scientific study offish-life. 

 Failing such accurate knowledge, our legislation regarding the fisheries will be largely 

 groping in the dark ; and all efforts for their preservation and improvement will come 

 short of the objects aimed at. A thorough knowledge of the mode of life, development, 

 etc., of those fishes which constitute such a large portion of the national wealth of British 

 North America, is essential to their preservation and the extension of these great 

 industries. 



Such a Biological station as is referred to need not in the beginning be on an extensive 

 scale or very costly. When once commenced on a solid foundation, it would be sure to 

 expand. In most civilized countries, laboratories for the study of marine fauna and flora 

 are now established, and to these naturalists are resorting more and more as they find 

 there ample materials for their studies and the best appliances. The finest establishment 

 of the kind is that founded at Naples, some fifteen years ago, by a German biologist, Dr. 

 Anthon Dohru, which may now be regarded as An international institution, since it derives 

 its support from all parts of the world, and is resorted by students of all nationalities. In 

 the United States laboratories are established at Wood's Hall, near Gloucester, at Beaufort 

 by the Johns Hopkins University, and at Newport by Agassiz. France boasts of four, and 

 Austria has one at Trieste. In 1884, the Marine Biological Association of the United 

 Kingdom was formed, and the result has been the erection of a magnificent laboratory at 

 Plymouth from which great results may be anticipated. Many of the leading scientific 

 men of England are deeply interested in this institution and lend it their support. Scotland 

 too, since the establishment of its Fishery Board, has been doing excellent work in the 

 scientific investigation of sea fishes. Such men as Dr. Wemyss Fulton, Professors 

 Mcintosh and Ewart, Mr. W. Anderson Smith, men of high scientific attainments, are doing 

 admirable work in connection with the Fishery Board of Scotland, in prosecuting original 



