Marine Biology as a Science 



Marine biology's greatest stimulus was the 

 ocean-going researcti ship. It enabled a 

 systematic collection and recording of 

 plant and animal specimens over alt of the 

 oceans and seas. Scientists aboard Britain's 

 Discovery II are here seen hauling a midwater 

 trawl onto the afterdeck. 



As we have seen in the exploration chapter of this book, and as 

 we will see in the last chapter, man's knowledge of the oceans has 

 come slowly. The marine biology branch of oceanography is no 

 exception. Over the years biologists of the seas have depended on 

 three general techniques for building up knowledge: the work of 

 marine biological stations; research done by ocean-going expedi- 

 tions; and attempts to explore the oceans directly in depth. These 

 three lines of development were drawn up almost simultaneously 

 in several different countries during the nineteenth century, and 

 they are aU being followed today. 



The story of marine biological stations may be said to have 

 begun with Philip Henry Gosse, an English naturalist born in 1810. 

 He had been chiefly interested in birds until, some time after 1 840, 

 his health broke down and he went to Devon to recuperate. There 

 he spent much of his time on the shore and soon found himself 

 writing books on marine zoology. More of a crusader than an 

 author, he also began to organize parties that set out on specimen- 



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