NATURE 



ZZ1 



THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 1872 



SCIENCE STATIONS 



WE shall not be far wrong, we imagine, in supposing 

 that the article by Dr. Dohrn in a recent number 

 of Nature on " Zoological Stations" has attracted con- 

 siderable attention among thoughtful men. We may, 

 indeed, congratulate zoologists that so important a task has 

 been taken in hand by one in every way so well fitted to 

 accomplish it ; and it will gratify our readers to learn that 

 the cheery energy and bright enthusiasm of the German 

 anatomist is fast overcoming the obstacles which his 

 scheme naturally met with in the indolent city of the 

 South, whose lands are so rich in classic ruins, and seas 

 so full of Darwin-speaking embryos. At the risk of spoil- 

 ing a good work we venture to add to his remarks some 

 further suggestions, confining ourselves, however, to one 

 or two points. 



In the first place, we will be bold enough to express the 

 doubt whether it will be advisable to separate so entirely, 

 as Dr. Dohrn recommends, the stations in England from 

 the work of teaching. The establishment of such stations 

 will be rendered infinitely easier if they can in any way be 

 made self-supporting. Dr. Dohrn hopes, if we under- 

 stand him rightly, to pay the expenses of the Naples 

 station out of the fees of the Gentile sightseers, who will 

 be allowed to stroll about in the outer court of his embryo- 

 logical temple. There can be no such hope for any like 

 English temple. Yet a very considerable share of the 

 necessary funds might without difficulty be raised, and a 

 Philistine British public might be made to believe that it 

 was getting its money's worth for its money, if the work 

 of teaching, which is palpable, which may be mea- 

 sured and valued, and for which a receipt in full may 

 be given, were to go on hand in hand with the immeasur- 

 able and invaluable work of original inquiry. There would 

 thus naturally grow up around the station a school of sound 

 zoology ; otherwise there would be great danger of its be- 

 coming a resort of 2Lm\Ml\ovA privat-doccnts anxious chiefly 

 to find a notochord where nobody had found it before, or 

 a home of some narrow zoological clique. 



Much might be said for the establishment somewhere 

 on our British coasts of such a school of zoology on 

 the theory of a geographical distribution of scholar- 

 ship, and the existence of particular habitats best suited 

 for particular branches of learning. Sufficient founda- 

 tions for such a theory are at hand. It is easy to 

 understand why Edinburgh, with her sea close by, has 

 raised so many brilliant zoologists. We can see why 

 Manchester in the past and in the present has done so 

 much for chemistry. And, to look at the matter from 

 another point of view, one gets a glimpse of the reason 

 why high mathematics flourish at Cambridge, when one 

 gazes at her fenny flats, where, if the conception of three 

 dimensions be once reached, that of four is soon gained, 

 and feels the fogs and mists which wash out of the mind 

 everything that is not held fast by formulse. The natural 

 habitat for an English school of zoology is surely some 

 bright spot on our southern coast. r 



Nor need such an institution necessarily have an in- 



VOL. V. 



dependent isolated existence. There is too great a want 

 of community in our English Universities and Colleges 

 especially in matters of natural science. There is one 

 zoology at Oxford, another at Cambridge, another at 

 Jermyn Street, and these three have miserably little 

 dealings with one another. What immeasurable good 

 would a place of higher teaching do, where for a season, 

 or for a term, the zoological students of all the Universi- 

 ties might mingle together with mutual diffusion of ideas ! * 

 The mere opportunity of material would be a great thino- : 

 the Cambridge student would lift his ideas above the line 

 of beautifully prepared vertebrate skeletons, the Oxford 

 man would benefit by the change of diet from Anodon 

 and Astacus, and the London man would learn to see 

 actual things instead of reading about them in books. 

 But the greatest thing of all would be the catholic en- 

 thusiasm for biological learning, which such an institution 

 could not fail to generate and foster. 



Another remark which we would wish to make takes on 

 somewhat the shape of a complaint against Dr. Dohrn, 

 that he has confined to one science ideas which should 

 properly belong to all the sciences of observation. It is 

 well to have a Biological station, but it is far better to 

 have a station at once Biological, Astronomical, and 

 Meteorological. Let us imitate Dr. Dohrn in giving our 

 views a concrete form. The eclipse party on their outward, 

 and even on their homeward voyage, cannot fail to have 

 been struck with the bright clear air of the North Red Sea. 

 There is the very land of observation. It is impossible 

 for any one with a fragment of a mind within him to 

 sojourn on those delightful shores, where the eye re- 

 joices in its power, where the air helps vision instead of 

 hindering it, where the water is as clear and transparent 

 as the air elsewhere, without the desire springing up to be 

 a naturalist by day and an astronomer by night. And 

 this blessed region is now little better than a week's 

 journey from the fogs of London. Nothing could be 

 easier than to estabhsh at no great expense a Science 

 Station at some spot on the shores of the Red Sea, a 

 little south of Suez. Suez itself is for many reasons 

 undesirable, but the little village of Tor suggests 

 itself as being a very suitable neighbourhood. There 

 would be comparatively little difficulty in getting supphes, 

 or in going and coming to and fro. The naturalist, the 

 astronomer, the meteorologist, with the Palestine explorer 

 as an occasional helpmeet, might spend here a winter, or 

 rather many winters, in which pleasure and profit would 

 be running a hard race together. 



We cannot help thinking that such an idea has only to 

 be mooted to be at once caught up and set in action. 

 The outlay of the initial building and arrangements need 

 not be heavy, while the yearly expenditure might be kept 

 within comparatively narrow limits. Such an undertak- 

 ing is one which Government might justly take in hand, 

 but it is also one which private liberality might largely 

 aid, and to which contributions might come from the 

 funds of our ancient seats of learning. In any case we 

 fairly think it is matter deserving serious attention, and 

 as such we leave it to our readers. 



* It is impossible in a short article to develope a complete scheme : wc 

 might indicate our ideas, however, by suggesting that the right to study for 

 one or more terms in the station might be granted as a sort of scholarship to 

 promising biological students selected from all our great teaching institutions. 



