8 FRIENDS AND RELATIVES 



£k 



183 



briefly wishing for some of the limelight themselves before they setfled 

 enthusiastically back to their own work. Brothers and sisters are like that: 

 fond of each other, annoyed with each other, and usually, deep down, 

 supportive and fiercely loyal to each other. Especially in wdnter, when 

 crowds thin and paces slow down, cooperation in the scientific enterprise 

 prevails. People from WHOI and the MBL attend brown bag lunches 

 together. Some serve as trustees and on advisory groups for both institu- 

 tions. There seems to be no point to being competitive in this little town at 

 the end of Cape Cod when the wind is whipping through and the ice collects 

 on boats and water. 



As a result of the generally supportive scientific atmosphere, the U. S. 

 Geological Survey has set up offices here, as has the Sea Education Asso- 

 ciation. The National Academy of Sciences has established a conference 

 center in a beautiful old house on the water nearby. 



The Fisheries, WHOI, USGS, SEA, and MBL scientists work together in 

 various ways, expanding the spirit of scientific activity and making Woods 

 Hole a special place for science. The Fisheries and Aquarium serve more 

 direct commercial and public purposes, WHOI carries out government and 

 private research, w^hile the MBL provides for independent scientific re- 

 search and instruction at all levels. Here is specialization and cooperation: 

 just what Whitman insisted should provide the basis for effective science. 



Eel Pond, looking toward the golf course, 1895. Photograph by Baldwin Coolidge, courtesy of SPNEIA, Boston. 



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