158 



JL 



100 YEARS EXPLORING LIFE, 188S-1988 





^ 



>'/ 



'•TTlfe 



MBL beach. Photograph 

 by Alicia Hills. 

 MBL Archives. 



or an attack set up through a conversation at the beach. Wonderful solu- 

 tions to troubling problems find their expression in the MBL sand: whether 

 a technical trick for getting something done or planning some exciting 

 cross-disciplinary symposium that would not occur elsewhere, where peo- 

 ple would not even have opportunities to talk to each other. 



Some people go in the water, and when the tide is high and the vvdnd 

 calm many addicts can be found moving back and forth, back and forth, 

 swimming those laps to which they have become so accustomed in their 

 civilized university pools back home. Then there is the time when Szent- 

 Gybrgyi swam from his place on Penzance Point over to Juniper Point, 

 some considerable distance. A friend had promised him breakfast any time 

 he wanted to swim over. Unfortunately, his friends were out of town, and 

 the woman renting the place was not at all amused. She would certainly not 

 provide any breakfast and would barely let the dripping Szent-Gyorgyi use 

 the telephone to call a taxi. 



At the MBL beach, when the Portuguese man-of-war or some other 

 tyrant makes a visit, some people head out of the water; others rush for 

 their collecting nets and scoop up samples to show the children or to 

 investigate themselves. The other beaches are altogether another matter. 

 There people are more likely to talk about normal things. They may bring 

 their picnics or their wind-surfing equipment and settle in for a relaxing 



