BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH b0.4b.4 
PROFESSOR WHITMAN AND THE MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY 
The organization of the Marine Biological Laboratory was a 
response to the same demand that established and maintained 
a marine laboratory on the island of Penikese in 1873 and 1874. 
In his address at the opening of the Marine Biological Laboratory 
Professor Whitman said: 
The Annisquam Laboratory, the immediate predecessor of this, was 
organized to serve the same ends as the Penikese School, and the forces 
there engaged have simply been supplemented and transferred to the 
new Marine Biological Laboratory of Woods Hole, with such changes 
only as circumstances have rendered necessary. It was through the 
generous support and active cooperation of the Woman’s Education. 
Association of, Boston that Professor Hyatt was able to maintain the 
Laboratory at Annisquam, and the same Association initiated and car- 
ried through the movement that has given us this Laboratory. 
In 1886 efforts were made by the Association to place the Annis- 
quam Laboratory on an independent and broader foundation. 
A circular letter sent to many of the leading biologists of the 
country received encouraging replies and accordingly a prelim- 
inary meeting was held on March 5, 1887, in the library of the 
Boston Society of Natural History. A committee was there 
organized. to perfect plans for the organization of a permanent 
sea-side laboratory, to elect trustees and to devise ways and means 
for collecting the necessary funds. The committee met with 
sufficient success for a modest beginning and accordingly in March, 
1888, the Marine Biological Laboratory was formally incorpor- 
ated with ten members. Seven trustees were chosen at a meeting 
of the Corporation held the same month. In June, 1888, the 
Trustees issued a circular in which they announced the policy 
of the Laboratory to support instruction as well as research, 
and invited the cooperation of the universities and colleges of 
the country. Professor Whitman’s appointment as director of 
the Laboratory was also announced in this circular. 
This brief account of some facts in the early history of the 
Marine Biological Laboratory may suffice to show the origin of 
Professor Whitman’s connection with the institution. He found 
a local organization that planned to become national in scope, 
