A HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



laboratories as upon other of its influences. Scientific 

 ideas, like all other forms of human thought, move 

 more or less in shoals. Very rarely does a great dis- 

 covery emanate from an isolated observer. The man 

 who cannot come in contact with other workers in 

 kindred lines becomes more or less insular, narrow, 

 and unfitted for progress. Nowadays, of course, the 

 free communication between different quarters of the 

 globe takes away somewhat from the insularity of any 

 quarter, and each scientist everywhere knows some- 

 thing of what the others are doing, through wide-spread 

 publications. But this can never altogether take the 

 place of personal contact and the inspirational com- 

 munication from man to man. Hence it is that a 

 rendezvous, where all the men of a craft go from time 

 to time and meet their fellows from all over the world, 

 has an influence for the advancement of the guild 

 which is enormous and unequivocal, even though diffi- 

 cult of direct demonstration. 



This feature, then, it seems to me, gives Dr. Dohrn's 

 laboratory its greatest value as an educational factor, 

 as a moving force in the biological world. It is true 

 that the new-comer there is likely to be struck at first 

 with a sense of isolation, and to wonder at the seeming 

 exclusiveness of the workers, the self - absorption of 

 each and every one. Outside the management, whom 

 he meets necessarily, no one pays the slightest atten- 

 tion to him at first, or seems to be aware of his exist- 

 ence. He is simply assigned to a room or table, told 

 to ask for what he wants, and left to his own devices. 

 As he walks along the hallways he sees tacked on the 

 doors the cards of biologists from all over the world, 



140 



