asia 
694 NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM—1965 
aire -.-° 
thrown across her tranquil surface -- dark now, and solemn, made 
more desolate by the dark and silent hulls of anchored vessels, 
but beautiful even in her somber and forlorn condition. I hear 
her mighty sighs answering the wailing night winds. She lures 
me to her. I cannot go to bed." 
~~ 
acess eras 
; 
One wonders what George Eliot thought of this passage, written a few years a 
after they ran off together. So much for Mr. Lewes, who was actually a rather 4 
good physiologist -- he was not alone as a master of the purple passage -= for 5 
as recently as a year or so ago an eminent witness before a congressional com- ; 
mittee described the ocean as the placental fluid of the globe. Perhaps a better g 
quotation to remember our Victorian fortears by is that of the Reverend Mr. - 
George Tugwell -- one of several reverend gentlemen who became enthusiastic iy 
students of seashore life and authors of books about it -- the Rev. Mr. Tugwell } 
remarked in his little book about the English sea anemones: "But I must add as q 
we stroll homeward, that one great.benefit to be derived from the pursuit of i 
natural history at the seaside, is the intense relief and the renewed buoyancy 
which it grants to a mind wearied and overtasked by the realities of daily life." 
a ee 
Who, in this time of overcrowded daily life, has stated the justification 
better for such an enterprise as the Pt. Reyes National Seashore? 
But let us get back to marine stations and their reasons for existance. 
The first impetus for the establishment of marine stations was the great 
interest in learning more about the plants and animals of the sea, many of them 
too delicate to be transported away from shore. The early studies soon brought 
forth much evidence, especially through the identification of developing stages, 
concerning the relationships of the major groups of animals we call phyla. Most 
of these major groups are best represented in the sea, and some of them like 
Starfishes and their relatives, occur nowhere else. From the beginning marine 
stations became necessary adjuncts to university training in zoology, and most of 
them still serve this function. Many inland institutions require the degree 
candidates in zoology undergo at least one exposure to seashore life, and the 
summer enrollment of virtually all marine stations in the United States is filled 
because of the demand for courses by students from all over the country. 
In Sweden this requirement is applied to those who wish to become high 
school biology teachers -- every candidate must take a course at a marine station. 
Perhaps we will come to this someday. 
But also from the beginning there was a practical motivation for marine 
stations as well -- the need to understand and improve fisheries and the culture 
of marine organisms for food. The oldest still functioning marine laboratory, 
that at Conecarneau, was established to study oysters. 
Probably the classical laboratory in the sense of pure science is that at 
Naples, established in 187) by Anton Dohrn, a german professor. Dohrn started 
his study of marine life at Helgoland, but after being nearly drowned in a storn, 
sought a more kindly climate. The Naples station established on an international 
basis, and is still essentially an international station, receiving some of its 
support from the United States. People go there to study particular animals and 
plants, or follow specific lines of study such as the function of squid nerves or 
the learning behavior of the octopus, and the station is still essentially an in- 
ternational service institution. One rents a "table" which may actually be a 
