164 MARINE SCIENCE 
job is done, or to make, by mutation, bacteria which decompose the existing de- 
tergents. 
The second problem is that of finding a suitable criteria for pollution assay. 
The time honored method of coliform or H. coli determination certainly falls 
short of being an accurate sewage indicator in the marine environment. There 
are some scientists working in this area at the present time, but it is obvious 
that intensified research will be needed before the problem is overcome. 
In every attempt to describe a science it is necessary to oversimplify for the 
sake of clarity of the entire picture. This has been attempted in the foregoing 
paragraphs. We must face the fact that the marine microbe is important to 
our very existence. It is hope that this simplified picture of the importance of 
the marine microbe will be of value in your posing problems of establishing a 
program of marine research and teaching with respect to the future of the 
people of the United States and of the world. 
Very truly yours, 
CARL H. OPPENHEIMER, 
Marine Microbiologist. 
BROOKLYN INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES, 
KITCHAWAN RESEARCH LABORATORY, OF THE 
BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN, 
Ossining, N.Y., December 22, 1960. 
Senator WARREN G. MAGNUSON, 
Old Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 
(Attention of Mr. Daniel B. Markel). 
DEAR Sir: We are very much interested in the proposed Marine Sciences and 
Research Act which passed the Senate, and hope that with amplification and 
renewed backing, this kind of a bill will be voted through in the next Congress. 
Our interests here in Kitchawan in marine biology center around basic prob- 
lems in physiology and ecology of plants and microbes in the sea, and their re- 
lations to nutrition of animal life in the ocean. Kor many years we have 
worked with antibiotics in land organisms and only recently have we turned 
to potential medicinal substances produced by marine forms of life. We pub- 
lished a note recently on antibiotics in corals, and have a paper in press in 
Botanica Marina dealing with antibiotics in numerous seaweeds or Puerto Rico. 
Dr. Sieburth and I studied the antibiotic plankton in Antarctica, and he has 
published a paper in Science, showing that acrylic acid is an antibiotic in the 
yellow-green alga, Phaeocystis, growing abundantly in Antarctic waters. This 
marine antibiotic, eaten by penguins for thousands of years, may have impor- 
tant uses as an additive in poultry feeds. It now appears that the ocean con- 
tains a large number of growth inhibitory substances, including antibiotics and 
poisons, that need to be studied for the sake of knowledge and applications to 
human welfare. 
Some of our other marine studies have been concerned with productivity of 
organic matter and its turnover in various microbial processes and its avail- 
ability to marine animals. At the present time we are studying the vitamin 
relationships among thousands of cultures of marine bacteria and many small 
marine algae that carry on photosynthesis and other kinds of synthesis. A re- 
port of 101 pages on marine microbiology has just been sent to the Office of 
Naval Research, Washington, D.C., covering work done by us on an ONR con- 
tract this past year. That report would be available to you through the Office 
of Dr. C. D. Cox, Head Office of Microbiology Branch, ONR, Washington 25, 
D.C. 
Currently we are working on diverse kinds of marine bacteria that require 
or produce vitamins Bi, biotin, and Bw. Methods are being further developed 
for assaying B vitamins in sea water and various marine materials. We 
are also trying to assess the value of bacteria as potential transformers of low- 
value protein to proteins with high biological value for fish life. 
A few of our reprints that are available are enclosed for your information. 
May I further point out to you that the marine biologists in our country need 
a good tropical station for marine science, particularly for researches in tropi- 
cal marine biology. There is a beginning of such a station in Puerto Rico, 
where the University of Puerto Rico has maintained a place for their students 
and visiting scientists for several years. At the suggestion of Vice Chancellor 
Luis Stefani, University of Puerto Rico, I prepared a little statement about an 
expanding program in marine science in Puerto Rico, where cooperative re- 
