74 Biology in America 



to consideration here. The Wistar Institute of Anatomy in 

 Philadelphia, and the Bussey Institution of Harvard Univer- 

 sity should also be included. 



Tlie three Carnegie stations are known respectively as the 

 "Department of Experimental Evolution" at Cold Spring 

 Harbor, L. I., the "Department of Botanical Research" at 

 Tucson, Ariz., and the "Department of Marine Biology" on 

 tlie Dry Tortngas Keys oft' the Florida Coast. These were 

 all established between 1903 and 1906, shortly after the found- 

 ing of the Institution by Mr. Carnegie. The first of these 

 is, as its name implies, devoted to a study of evolution and 

 its twin sister, or better, its right hand, heredity. As early 

 as 1617 Francis Bacon advocated an institution for studying 

 evolution experimentally, but not until the early years of 

 the twentieth century was his suggestion realized. Its major 

 w^ork has been the study of inheritance in many kinds of 

 animals and plants, the influence of external factors, such 

 as alcohol, light, etc., upon the structure and evolution of 

 animals, the influence of selection in evolution, the role of the 

 chromosomes in inheritance, and the underlying factors of 

 sex. 



The physical equipment of an institution such as this 

 emphasizes the specialization of biology today, and its 

 dependence upon other sciences. Apart from the usual 

 apparatus of the biological laboratory and the extensive pens 

 and stabling required for housing the stock, there is an 

 artificial cave with aquaria for studies upon cave animals, a 

 well equipped chemical laboratoiy, and constant temperature 

 rooms arranged in pairs, one pair for dry and one for moist 

 air, so that experimental animals can be kept in warm or cold, 

 dry or moist chambers. 



The site of the station and the adjoining laboratory of the 

 Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences are the picturesque 

 shores of Cold Spring Harbor, a long narrow inlet from Long 

 Island Sound. On the opposite shore is tiie straggling little 

 village of the same name, which in days gone by was one of 

 the whaling ports of Long Island. 



Perhaps the most important outcome of the station's work 

 has been the Eugenics Record Office, established at Cold 

 Spring Ifarl)or in 1910, through the generosity of Mrs. E. H. 

 Harriman. The function of the Ofifice is the recording of 

 human inheritance, to the ultimate end of gaining greater 

 knowledge tliereof, which may lead to its improvement.^ It 

 collects recoi'ds of family traits, which records are kept in a 

 sextuple card index of persons, traits and localities; enabling 

 an investigator to readily trace a given trait in both the 

 families and the localities of its occurrence, to determine the 



