BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY AT NAPLES 



about the business of discovery. The worker who 

 comes to Naples is supposed to have learned all these 

 things long before. He is merely asked, then, what 

 class of material he desires, and, this being furnished 

 him, he is permitted to go his own way unmolested. 

 He may work much or little, or not at all ; he may make 

 epochal discoveries or no discoveries of any sort, and it 

 will be all one to the management. No one will ask 

 him, in any event, what he has done or why he has not 

 done otherwise. In a word, the worker in the labora- 

 tory here, while being supplied with opportunities for 

 study such as he could hardly find elsewhere, retains 

 all the freedom of his own private laboratory. 



Little wonder, then, that it is regarded as a rare 

 privilege to be allowed to work in this laboratory. 

 Fortunately, however, it is a privilege that may be ob- 

 tained by almost any earnest worker who, having 

 learned the technique of the craft elsewhere, desires 

 now to prosecute special original studies in biology. 

 Most of the tables here are leased in perpetuity, for a 

 fixed sum per annum, by various public or private in- 

 stitutions of different countries. Thus, for example, 

 America has the right of use of several tables, the 

 Smithsonian Institution leasing one, Columbia Uni- 

 versity another, a woman's league a third, and so on. 

 Any American desiring to work at Naples should make 

 application to one of these various sources, stating 

 the exact time when he would like to go, and if there 

 be a vacancy for that time the properly accredited ap- 

 plicant is almost sure to receive the privilege he asks 

 for. Failing in this, however, there is still a court of 

 last appeal in Dr. Dohrn himself, who may have a few 



VOL. V. 9 I 2 O 



