22 £, 



100 YEARS EXPLORING LIFE, 1888-1988 



Sketch of the laboratory 

 at Annisquam, made in 

 1884 by an unknown 

 artist. Windpower 

 provided the laboratory 

 with its water for aquaria. 

 MBL Archives. 



land next to the Fish Commission remained available. Baird promised that 

 the Fish Commission would help with such potentially troublesome neces- 

 sities as supplying organisms and running sea water. The Woman's Edu- 

 cation Association agreed to donate whatever equipment and materials 

 Hyatt had accumulated for the school. Because Hyatt had already invested 

 considerable energy and money of his own in the Annisquam venture, the 

 new prospects for reinforcements in the form of personnel and funds must 

 have appeared very attractive indeed. 



The enterprise took shape, with the expressed purpose of raising "such 

 a sum of money as will secure for teachers of Biology and tlie general student 

 ample oppoilunities for the practical study of marine forms. It is hoped tliat 

 a sufficient amount may be raised to offer additional facilities for original 

 investigation." The group of supporters and future trustees set out to select 

 a site and to raise money for a new biological laboratory on Cape Cod. Woods 

 Hole may have appealed to tliem for financial as well as environmental 

 reasons since land here was cheap at this time. 



In 1887 and 1888, as the planning took place, the town boasted its very 

 own guano factory, an ingenious business tliat turned lociil waste products 

 into valuable fertilizers and provided jobs for tlic townspeople. (The guano 

 came first from local ships returning from tlic Pacific islands, then from 

 nearby islands.) Begun in 1863, the Pacific Guano Compjuiy saved the town 



