NATURE 



277 



THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1872 



THE FOUNDATION OF ZOOLOGICAL 

 STATIONS 



WHOEVER contemplates a little closely the state of 

 Science at the present time, must be struck with 

 the fact that, whilst in almost every other branch of public 

 and private life co-operation has been established, and 

 has worked out great results, its influence on the life of 

 Science is but small and insignificant. 



This may sound strange to all those who know the 

 number of Scientific Societies, Academies, and Unions to 

 be found in England, Germany, America, Italy, France, 

 in short, everywhere where Science is cultivated at all. 

 But if one looks into the life of these societies, there is 

 not much co-operation to be found in them. They 

 publish periodicals ; but there are publishers who do quite 

 as well as societies, and sometimes even better. They 

 meet and talk science ; but this does does not add much 

 to the real progress of science. Sometimes they found 

 museums or cabinets, and this is a better service ; they 

 estabhsh a library for the use of their members, and this 

 is perhaps the best they do altogether. A man may be 

 fellow of twenty different societies, but that will not affect 

 much the progress of the scientific work he does ; if he is 

 member of certain academies his reputation may be raised 

 in the eyes of the outside public, but no essential help is 

 afforded by that either to him or to his work, except in 

 the case where such academy has some influence on the 

 Government, as, for instance, the Royal Society. The Me- 

 nagerie in the Regent's Park, established by the Zoological 

 Society, is one of the solitary instances in which, the ini- 

 tiative being taken by a scientific body, an institution has 

 been evolved, drawing immense revenue from the public 

 pocket, which is for the most part spent upon scientific 

 objects. It is the application of this method of securing 

 support which will be strongly advocated in the present 

 paper, as a practicable path for the future progress of 

 biological research. 



There is also another great society in Britain which 

 does, perhaps, better work for science than any other. 

 This society is the British Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science. Not only does its great and well-deserved 

 reputation make it powerful and influential, but also the 

 large sum of money it distributes annually for the direct 

 progress of science. This influence is due principally to 

 the fact that the best men in British Science participate 

 with great eagerness in the meetings of the Association 

 and lend to it all their personal authority and reputation. 

 The considerable sum of money to be distributed is due 

 to the great number of scientific and lay people that take 

 part in its meetings. 



The combination of these two elements ought to be 

 imitated in every special branch of science. The times 

 are past when great scientific men did not condescend to 

 speak to a general public, and happily nobody believes 

 any longer that science must be lowered and lost, because 

 the general public looks at and hears a little of its inner 

 life. Great scientific men have an immense influence upon 

 the public, and that is an immense benefit to the public ; 

 on the other hand, the general public takes interest in, and 



pays money for the progress of science, and that is a great 

 benefit for science. 



The meetings of the British Association therefore are 

 an essential step in the right direction for lending science 

 the great help of co-operation. But a great deal more of it is 

 needed if that element is to supersede by-and-by the old 

 lines and ways of mere individual and disorganised action. 

 Especially is co-operation wanted in the single sciences. 

 Every one knows how great is the progress in meteorology 

 and astronomy brought about by the possession of special 

 laboratories and observatories. Even if all the universities 

 were extinct at once, these sciences would go on perfectly 

 well by the help of the observatories. Chemistry is aided 

 by innumerable laboratories, erected for practical pur- 

 poses. Mechanics governs the world and finds itself 

 at home everywhere, involving by its special character 

 many elements of co-operation. 



Other sciences do not enjoy these privileges, though they 

 want them perhaps even more than some of those that 

 are in possession of them. Amongst the number of these 

 sciences, perhaps the most neglected in the way of co-opera- 

 tion is Biology, that science which occupies at present such 

 an eminent place in the public interest, and yet the most 

 neglected, in so far as no other science feels at present the 

 necessity of co-operation and organisation so much as 

 biology. The reason is a very obvious one. Biology has 

 undergone a complete revolution by Mr. Darwin's great 

 work. This revolution has augmented the number of 

 special problems in such enormous proportions that biology 

 is now completely at a loss to solve all these problems by 

 the aid of the means placed hitherto at its disposal, and 

 looks pretty much like a boy who has suddenly grown in 

 one year out of all his clothes, presenting the ridiculous 

 aspect of a man in a child's dress. The thing which a 

 father would do for his boy would be to go and buy 

 another dress. This obviously was also the idea of Prof. 

 Carl Vogt, who long since began an agitation for the 

 establishment of a zoological laboratory at the sea-coast, 

 of which agitation he wrote me in a letter the following 

 account : — 



" During the years 1844 — 1847 the plan for the establish- 

 ment of an expedition was worked out at Paris by Milne- 

 Edwards, and I participated in it. The object was the in- 

 vestigation of a coral-island, and the establishment of a 

 station upon it for at least several years. The ship and the 

 station should be furnished with all possible things, espe- 

 cially for dredging-work. The scheme fell to pieces owing 

 to a question of etiquette. The commander of a man-of- 

 war of the Royal Navy would not submit to the direction 

 of a naturalist. 



"As you know, I lived from 1S50 to iSj2 at Nice. The 

 instruments for observation, which I bought by the money 

 earned by literary work, consisted of a microscope, a surface 

 net, and some large sugar-bottles. I tried at the time by 

 the help of two deputies, my friends Valerio and Dunico, 

 to bring about the foundation of a zoological station at 

 Vniafranca, asking only for some rooms in the empty 

 buildings of the Darsena, and the establishment of some 

 tanks in them. Nevertheless I had not the least success, 



" In the year 1863 my friend Matteucci became Minister 

 of Public Instruction in the kingdom of Italy. With him, 

 as a physicist who especially dealt with physiological 

 subjects, and who, understanding the necessities and wants 



