51 



concerning the behavior of living syst-jms. Hence Physiology is not 

 so much a department of Biolocry as a method of dealing with the whole 

 of th&t field, insofar as it Gonc;rrns the propc-rties and relations of 

 living organisms, and p^rts of living org-^nisms. Physiologists, 

 t"herfcfore,' turn to res-^archss involving marine organisms for reasons 

 ?s Vc-rious as those that influence other biologists. It is the 

 special advantages offered by see animals and plants as subjects for 

 physiological study that we wish to emphasize h-re. 



In the first piece, they answer the requirement that for many 

 purposes experimentation shall be carried out under conditions such 

 that no irreversible changes are induced, and on a lar.Te scale, in 

 the case of such enerey relations as involve (l) temperature, (2) 

 light, (3) aravitation, (4) ionic composition of the medium. They 

 likewise offer the most favorable opportunity for rel^^^ting the 

 experimental results to the phenomena actually occuring in nature. 

 The investigation of abstract problems, in these fields, requires, in 

 the first place, the selection of the type of organism that (so far 

 as can oe foretold), is the most nearly suitable for the specific 

 question in hand. For this reason, alon-^, if for no other, the m.a.rine 

 biolo2;ical laooratories should continue and exp^.nd their functions 3S 

 foci for much physiolosioal research, since by contrast with the 

 faunal and floral eauipment of the land, or of fresh waters, the sea 

 is extremely rich, both as to individual numbers and as to variety of 

 types. Because, for r-xample, of the abundance and diversity of 

 luminous forms in the sea, contrasted ^rith their paucity on land, and 

 practical absenc- in fresh water; oecause, too of the wide range of 

 colonial animals; and because of the exoression of types of symmetry 

 other than the bilateral, and of various forms of app-ndages, etc., 

 am.ong the marine population. 



It is not generally recogniz-d how ?reatly General Physiolop'y is 

 indebted to the study of marine organisms for progress in some of its 

 m.ost fundamiental problems. The lar^e size, auundaac-.- , constancy of 

 physiolosical condition, and simple cultural requirements of the eggs 

 of sea urchins and st;-rfish, amiong others, miake them incomparable 

 material for cellular physiology, whether surface processes or in- 

 ternally colloidal phenomena are in question, and waeth-=:r studied by 

 temperature variations, by chemical means, or by micro-dissection. 

 It was, thtrefo-B, no accident th^t general physiology arose in 

 America at the Serine Bioloaical Laooratory at 'A'oods Hole, or that 

 its leader, Jacoues Loeb carried on his studies in artificial parthe- 

 nogenesis, in balanc^^d solutions, etc, there, and at Pacific :>Tove, 

 rather than at some inland laboratory. 



The activities of individual marine organisms, especially those 

 of the littoral zone provide the widest variety of subjects. Y^ry 

 attractive opportunities are open for rc:saarches concerning the many 

 shoal wat.r animals that are of commercial im.port^nc^ , the sane con- 

 servation of which d-p-^nds upon knowledge of life history. Unfor- 

 tunately much of the work so far attempted in this field has failed 

 to command full confidence, Doth b-cause of technical procedur-', and 

 because of the character of the result sought. The incentive to put 

 such matters on a miore sound basis is, therefore, strong. This 

 cannot very well be dene unless students are brought into direct 

 contact with marine conditions during their formative years. 



There has never yet been an opportunity to study the physiology 

 of the animals that live in the depths of the oceans, by the help of 



