November 17, 1892] 



NATURE 



67 



[unities for studying animals alive. Much of the early work 

 was done upon specimens collected and stored in museums, but 

 workers, both in this country and Europe, had frequently made 

 excursions to the seacoast for the purpose of studying the in- 

 vertebrate forms constituting so large a part of the marine 

 fauna. 



The unsatisfactory nature of this work was of course evident. 

 Suitable accommodations and working appliances could not be 

 provided under these circumstances, and desirableness of 

 establishing permanent seaside laboratories was early felt. 

 Nothing was done, however, in this country until 1871, when 

 John Anderson, a wealthy citizen of New York, presented to 

 Prof. Agassiz the island of Penikese in Buzzard's Bay, 

 together with the sum of $50,000 with which to found a seaside 

 station for the study of marine life. Another friend gave him a 

 yacht of 80 tons burden for use in collecting. Agassiz had 

 long wished for such a laboratory, and no one but himself 

 could have aroused the necessary enthusiasm for carry- 

 ing out the project. He soon set to work and built large 

 aboratories, with suitable accommodations for a large number 

 of workers. In 1873 they were opened for work. This con- 

 stituted the first opportunity enjoyed by American students of 

 studying marine animals in their native waters, with proper 

 appliances for work. It inaugurated a new era in scientific 

 research, being the first outward expression of an idea which 

 has since taken a firm hold upon the investigators of the country. 

 The death of Agassiz in December, 1873, P"t an end to the pro- 

 ject. The buildings were used but two seasons and then 

 abandoned. 



Of this laboratorj' Prof. Whitman says : — 



" At the close of the second and last season at Penikese, in 

 1874, Alexander Agassiz appealed to the colleges and all in- 

 terested boards of education for support ; but all in vain, for not 

 a single favourable reply was received, and so his intention to 

 remove the laboratory to Wood's Holl was never carried out. 

 Thus that great and memorable undertaking, after absorbing 

 money enough to build and equip a most magnificent laboratory, 

 was abandoned from lack of interest on the part of educational 

 institutions rather than of means. Such a failure, it must be 

 frankly confessed, is not one to inspire confidence, but its ex- 

 planation removes the apparent grounds for discouragement. 

 It was the marvellous personality of Prof. Agassiz that made 

 Penikese a possibility. It was his magic influence that created 

 that school, his commanding individuality that organized and 

 vitalized it. All interests centred in him so completely that 

 with his sudden removal the enterprise was left without a soul. 

 The school had no coherency except in his magnetic power and 

 intellectual strength, and the moment these elements of stability 

 were withdrawn, collapse followed as a natural and in- 

 evitable consequence. Then, too, it should be remem- 

 bered that Prof. Agassiz lived just long enough to 

 demonstrate the impracticability of maintaining such 

 a school in such a locality, but unfortunately not long 

 enough to convince the scientific world of its utility. The school 

 was an experiment ; its master was stricken down before it 

 could be fairly tested, and the times were not ripe for it." 



The establishment of this laboratory was an event of the 

 greatest significance because of its bearings upon the history of 

 education. Not only was Penikese the first biological station 

 established in this country, and, indeed, in the world, but it was 

 the beginning of the summer-school movement which has spread 

 so generally over the country, and which, it should be noted, 

 began with original research and finally extended to include the 

 work of elementary instruction. 



The movement met with the cordial support of naturalists 

 everywhere, and was almost immediately followed by the estab- 

 lishment of Dohrn's magnificent station at Naples. Soon after, 

 in 1875, a seaside station was established at Helder by the 

 Netherlands Zoological Society, and other smaller ventures 

 followed in Europe. 



The need of opportunities for seaside study in the United 

 States was too generally felt by those who had come under 

 Agassiz's influence for the project to be allowed to stop. The 

 advantages of this method of work over museum study had im- 

 pressed themselves at least upon a few workers, and accordingly 

 we find several attempts made to found new laboratories. They 

 differed in character and aims, but all agreed in being founded 

 upon the one idea of studying marine animals in their native 

 waters. 



The most direct successor of the Penikese laboratory is the 



private laboratory of ?rof. Alexander Agassiz at Newport. 

 While this building is constructed on a much smaller scale than 

 that at Penikese and is open only to a limited number of 

 workers, yet it is prominent for the elegance of its appointments 

 and its conveniences for work. 



The first laboratory for seaside study established in this 

 country after the abandonment of Penikese was maintained by 

 the Peabody Academy of Sciences, under the guidance of Prof. 

 Packard, with the co-operation of Prof. Kingsley and others. 

 This laboratory was for elementary instruction rather than re- 

 search, and remained in existence only from 1876 to 1881. 



In 1878 the trustees of the Johns Hopkins University made an 



appropriation to allow a party of workers to spend some time 



in seaside study. The party was under the guidance of Dr. W. 



K. Brooks, who had himself been a pupil of Agassiz and a 



member of the Penikese laboratory. The location selected 



was at the lower part of the Chesapeake Bay, from which the 



name of Chesapeake Zoological Laboratory was chosen. No 



permanent buildings were erected, as it was intended, if 



possible, to change the location from year to year ; but an out- 



I fit of boats and collecting apparatus was provided. The 



I summers of 1878 and 1879 were spent about the lower part of 



! Chesapeake Bay at Crisfield, Md., and Fort Wool, Va., at 



which places special attention was given to the development of 



the oyster. 



At the opening of the third jeason, in 1880, the need was 

 felt of a locality that would offer a greater variety of objects for 

 study, and accordingly the summers of 1880-82 were spent at 

 Beaufort, N.C. This locality proved especially favourable, 

 since sand bars, mud flats, salt marshes, and land-locked 

 salt water, within easy reach, gave a large variety of different 

 rare forms, and there was also abundant ocean dredging. • A 

 sufficient appropriation was made in 1880 to purchase a steam 

 launch and a sloop, which put the workers in a position to take 

 every advantage of their opportunities. 



In 1883 a special study of oyster beds made a return to the 

 mouth of the Chesapeake Bay necessary, and that season was 

 spent at Hampton, Va., but the following two seasons were again 

 spent at Beaufort. 



In 1886 the need of a more southern location was felt, and 

 the Bahama Islands seemed to offer an inviting field. The 

 summer of 1886 was therefore spent at Green Turtle Cay, and 

 the following summer at Nassau, New Providence. 



Financial difficulties temporarily stopped the work of the 

 laboratory, but it is announced that it will be reopened in the 

 summer of 1891.' 



It is difficult to summarize the work of this laboratory, and 

 none the less so to over-estimate its importance. It enjoys the 

 distinction of being the first marine laboratory ever carried suc- 

 cessfully into operation in the United States, and its work was 

 entirely original research. The character of work done differed 

 from year to year, according to the facilities which the different 

 localities offered ; but in general it may be said that embryology 

 received most attention, while considerably less was devoted to 

 the discovery and description of new species. The methods 

 employed, as well as the new facilities enjoyed, made it possible 

 to apply effective means of solution to many problems pre- 

 viously obscure, as well as opening many que>tions in regard to 

 which nothing had been done. 



Of the lasting value of the work it is perhaps too early to 

 speak, but the fact that over one hundred papers, based upon 

 work there performed, have readily found publication in the best 

 journals of this country and Europe, as well as the fact that 

 much of the work has already found its way into standard text- 

 books, gives strong testimony to its value. 



The Chesapeake Zoological Laboratory may be regarded as 

 the successor of the Penikese laboratory to the extent that its 

 aims are the same, but it differed in not being generally open to 

 the workers of the country. Arrangements were not made for 

 large numbers, and those who were present were mainly stu- 

 dents of the Johns Hopkins University. During the nine years 

 that this laboratory remained in existence, there were in all fifty 

 investigators present, and the average length of each session was 

 nearly two months. 



The need was felt, especially in that portion of the country 

 where Agassiz's influence was more directly exerted, of esta- 

 blishing a laboratory on a larger scale, and open to a larger 



■ Shortly after the above was written, KinKston. Jamaica, was chosen as 

 a suitable locality, and a party of advanced workers, numbering about lour- 

 teen in all, were present from M.ny until September.— September ai, 1891. 



NO. 



1203. VOL. 47] 



