7 OUT OF THF, I^B 



£k 



173 



explain why particulai" people have chosen the work they have. Fortunately, 

 the library reader can register for a reserved desk (or as a general reader) 

 and can settle into the stacks to work in a place that allows adequate 

 opportunity for staling out the window too. Especially the desks on the top 

 floor: all look out towaid water in whichever direction. "Oh, I was just 

 thinking, outlining the next chapter," the daydreaming reader can claim. In 

 contrast, taking even a visual break from most labs back home requires 

 actually leaving, thereby admitting even to oneself that one is doing some- 

 thing other tlian working. At the MBL, though, tlie pace is intense, witli few 

 real breaks in tlie ongoing pursuit of science. 



Life and research go on, even when other people are visiting tlie beach 

 or sleeping. During the summer, someone is at work somewhere in the 

 MBL at almost any given time of the day or night. That, too, is part of the 

 spirit of the place. Though the researchers and the supporting staff no 

 longer have to get by with quite the meager resources once at their 

 command, they still have to work hard to keep up the elusive spirit of the 

 place that grows out of the camaraderie and the perpetual discussions of 

 science that go on in so many different settings during the day. Admittedly, 

 things are not what they used to be; in many ways they have become even 

 better as the community has expanded. 



The Dude Train, 1895. Photograph by Baldwin Coolidge, courtesy of SPNEA, Boston. 



