12 



NATURE 



{Mayd, 1875 



the ^animals ; granted, further, an increased income to 

 allow a more liberal endowment of its different parts, viz., 

 library, collection, laboratories, and also an increase in 

 its leading and scientific staff ; granted, finally, new 

 donations and subventions like those of the English natu- 

 ralists and of the German Government, and we may be 

 pretty sure that the Zoological Station at Naples will in 

 future be a quite indispensable and very powerful instru- 

 ment for scientific research. 



At present the following Governments and Universities 

 have entered upon contracts with the Zoological Station 

 for one or two tables :— Prussia, Italy, Russia, Austria, 

 each for two tables ; Bavaria, Saxony, Baden, Mecklen- 

 burg, Holland, and the Universities of Cambridge and 

 Strassburg, each for one table. Negotiations have been 

 entered upon with Wiirtemberg and Hesse-Darmstadt. 

 Accommodation for twenty-four naturalists will be>eady for 

 next winter, and it is hoped to augment the daily arriving 

 quantity of marine animals for investigation by help of 

 a small steam launch, which will be always out on fishing 

 expeditions, weather permitting. 



All this together shows a regularly working institution, 

 which, we believe, deserves the full attention of scientific 

 men as a new element, or, to use an expression applied 

 to it once by Prof. Owen, a new dynamic in science. 



The following is an abstract of Dr. Dohrn's inaugural 

 address : — 



Dr. Dohrn began by referring to the success which has 

 hitherto attended the Naples establishment, to the Ander- 

 sonian School of Natural History in America, and to the 

 Zoological Station which the Austrian Government pro- 

 poses to estabUsh at Trieste. He then proceeded to show 

 what may in time be expected from the institution ; in 

 what its duties principally consist. 



The original purposes of the undertaking was to facilitate 

 the labours of the zoologists who come to Naples from 

 all parts of Europe to study the marine animals of the Bay. 

 For this purpose it is of course necessary to enter into 

 relations with the fishermen in the Bay, in order to obtain 

 the needed supply of fish ; but this method is so far 

 from satisfactory that Dr. Dohrn, as soon as the state of 

 funds permits, is resolved to obtain a small steamer, 

 properly fitted up ; with such assistance only can the 

 purposes of the institution be satisfactorily carried out. 



Dr. Dohrn then referred to the library of the Station, 

 which he is exceedingly anxious to make as complete as 

 possible, and hopes that authors, publishers, and academies 

 will continue to supply the wants of the Station in this 

 respect. He is especially anxious to obtain systematic 

 works, the want of which has already made itself pain- 

 fully felt. The institution greatly depends upon its pecu- 

 niary resources, and he hopes those who are friendly to its 

 purpose will continue to lend it a helping hand. 



The Zoological Station will continue to supply foreign 

 universities, laboratories, museums, and private collec- 

 tions with marine animals, carefully preserved according 

 to the directions of the person who orders them. 



Besides thus endeavouring to further the work of 

 others, the Station has important scientific tasks of its 

 own. One of the chief of these is an exact determination 

 of the fauna of the Bay. Not only for its own sake is 

 this task one of the first duties of the Station, but it will 

 be of great assistance in facihtating the work of the 

 Station in other directions. It may be objected that the 

 smallness of the means at the disposal of the Station is 

 inadequate to the fulfilment of all these purposes. 

 While the justice of this objection is admitted, there is 

 at the same time no doubt that a great future is in store 

 for Zoological Stations ; for the principle on which they 

 are founded will remain, and give rise to ever new reali- 

 sations. 



The decreasing importance which the study of zoology 

 holds in the medical curriculum can hardly be avoided 

 without inordinately lengthening the time required for 



such a course, medical science itself has become so sub- 

 divided and specialised. Still, those who look upon the 

 medical profession as something more than merely a 

 means of livelihood, will not treat zoology with indiffer- 

 ence, but will perceive the important bearing it has on 

 the proper understanding of many medical problems. 



The importance of the principles of the Development 

 theory on the progress of medicine are then insisted 

 on. In the case of transmission of a hereditary tendency 

 to certain forms of disease, the application of these 

 principles might be made to serve a most important 

 purpose, if thoroughly understood and carefully carried 

 into practice. " How important must it be to ascer- 

 tain the conditions of such a transmission, to discover 

 the symptoms which, though in the present state of our 

 knowledge they may escape observation, may in the 

 earliest years show a morbid predisposition, and thus 

 warn us to conduct the whole physical and moral educa- 

 tion of the child with reference to the hidden enemy. . . . 

 As soon as these truths have become a part of the intel- 

 lectual possessions of the people, as soon as physicians 

 and teachers bear them constantly in mind and act in 

 accordance with them, how different will education be- 

 come ! For in this the highest significance of the Dar- 

 winian theory consists, that its principles embrace the 

 moral as well as the physical nature of man, and that 

 their critical application may bring about intellectual as 

 well as corporal changes. 



" As soon as its high practical value is established and 

 recognised, no doubt can be entertained that the progress 

 of zoology, the chief exponent of these laws, is an 

 essential furtherance to the advance of morals and the 

 reasonable adjustment of human life ; and it follows 

 that society— and the highest form of society, the State- 

 are not only entitled, but in duty bound, to afford a free 

 opportunity for zoological investigation, and to support it 

 by all the means in their power." 



Zoology is now so advanced and subdivided that at the 

 various universities the professorships of Zoology should 

 be at least doubled ; no roan is able adequately to teach 

 all branches of it. Moreover, laboratories must be esta- 

 blished at the seaside, and still more, stations in various 

 parts of the world. 



Dr. Dohrn bespoke the utmost 'toleration for the Dar- 

 winian theory from all classes. He hoped that the fact that 

 he had connected the name of the Station with the deve- 

 lopment and application of the Darwinian theory would 

 not prevent [anyone from lending it his support. 



" When the fundamental principles of Darwinism are 

 once thoroughly understood, it becomes clear that it 

 is not nearly as revolutionary as some of its disciples 

 seem to suppose. On the contrary, it is the declared 

 enemy of all revolutions. It takes its stand on concrete 

 reality, and teaches, like Hegel, that the real is the reason- 

 able. It sees in all that exists the necessary result of a 

 long process of development, in which innumerable influ- 

 ences have contributed to render the present world what 

 it is, and not something quite different from it. But it 

 sees in the present world only the preseiit world ; to- 

 morrow it will be changed. What in to-day is the effect 

 of yesterday, must at the same time be the cause of to- 

 morrow. Thus Darwinism is at once extremely tolerant 

 and the prophet of a different future. If at times this 

 should not appear to be the case, the blame is due, not to 

 the theory, but to its advocates, who often seem not to 

 understand the doctrines they so zealously teach, since 

 they are enraged at an opposition which, if they under- 

 stood how necessary and inevitable it is, they might with 

 ease gradually but certainly remove." 



It was shown that the Development theory is applicable 

 to all forms of existence and to all departments of human 

 life. If the law were carefully applied to history as well 

 as to nature, we might hope to be able to reduce the phe- 

 nomena of both to one great law of development, by 



