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JL 



100 YEARS EXPLORING LIFE, 1888-1988 



few organisms because they provide such excellent material for the ques- 

 tions at hand and because the more that is known about these few, the more 

 that can possibly be known about the larger problems for all organisms. 

 These few serve as systems to model general phenomena. With a smaller 

 number of productive organisms, then, researchers began to ask many 

 different questions. Thus the comparisons made and the spirit of commu- 

 nity cooperation were different than those that prevailed in the early 

 decades. 



CoUecting Organisms 



Whatever the organism, obtaining specimens is a crucial part of research at 

 the seashore, as elsewhere. In the first year of the MBL, collecting took place 

 with the help of boats and nets on loan from the Fish Commission, because 

 the MBL did not even own any waterfront property. Furthermore, the MBL 

 itself had only two rather insignificant green dories passed on from Annis- 

 quam, which could not go very far in this area of swift currents and 

 changing tides. Collecting under the relatively calm nearby docks or near 

 the shore remained the order of the day. Then, in 1890, the MBL added to 

 its menagerie of small dories the thirty-five-foot Sagitta, available for longer 

 collecting expeditions. Then they hired a captain to take charge. 



Captain John J. Veeder immediately struck everyone as a perfect 

 choice, and he served admirably as collector and captain until he retired 

 years later in 1933. During his term of service, he directed all collecting trips 

 by student groups, organized class picnics, demonstrated time and time 

 again that he knew how to put on a real clambake, and as the record books 

 always say, never lost anybody. In fact, he was a sufficiently good seaman 



The crew of the collecting boat 

 Cayadetta, 19Z5: Jack Goldrick, 

 deckhand; John J. Veeder, captain; 

 William D. Curtis, deckhand; Ellis M. 

 Lewis, chief; Paul A. Conklin, fireman 

 and oiler. MBL Archives. 



