i ia 1s ee 
THURSDAY, MAY 29, 1873 
THE ZOOLOGICAL STATION AT NAPLES” 
OME was not built in a day, says the proverb,— 
and so far, at least, the Zoological Station re- 
sembles the Eternal City,—for it is not yet quite finished. 
The difficulties have been sufficient to explain this delay. 
The complexity of a building of this kind, which had to 
combine so many technical arrangements with scientific 
requirements without neglecting beauty of appearance and 
the comfort of a dwelling-house for the principal, assis- 
tant naturalists, and other officials, will easily be con- 
ceived by those who have ever attempted to carry out 
the plan of an establishment svi generis. Add to this, 
that the dimensions of the building were limited before a 
stone was laid, that the sums allotted for the construction 
were by no means unlimited, that all had to be done in 
so difficult a place as Naples, by a foreigner who never 
had experience in practical pursuits of this intricate 
nature, but is a naturalist, and not a business man. 
At the same time, one must not believe that this 
delay has been altogether a misfortune. Though the 
Zoological Station had to pass through more than one 
“crisis,” it has been particularly lucky: dangerous as 
the aspect of all these critical situations seemed, never- 
theless it has always escaped, and now finds itself 
in better circumstances than it would have been with- 
out them. This seems principally due to the fact 
that in struggling against difficulties and enemies, one is 
forced to strengthen and augment one’s auxiliary troops, 
- and thus the army of supporters gets greater and greater, 
and triumph is more easily secured than before. 
As the outlay had been considerably increased in con- 
sequence of greater dimensions, and some internal ar- 
rangements, it became necessary to find additional funds. 
I am happy to say, that on my application, the German 
Empire, after having consulted the Berlin Academy 
of Sciences, consented to contribute 1,500/. The 
Italian Government likewise promised, on my personal 
application to the Minister of Finances, Dr. Sella, to 
remit the not unimportant sums that had to be paid as 
duties on the importation of the machinery and the great 
glasses. 
On the other hand, I formed a new scheme for keeping 
up the establishment. Some of the readers of NATURE 
may remember, perhaps, that the whole place was founded 
upon the income of the Aquarium, which is combined with 
the Zoological Station. The bulk of the capital being 
augmented, and the whole establishment in all its parts 
increased, the sums necessary for supporting it likewise 
must increase. Instead of ten places to be given to 
foreign naturalists, who come to work in the Zoological 
Station, there are now twenty. The number of officials, 
scientific and unscientific, will increase at the same rate, 
and everything else, too. Desirable as such an event 
must be for science’ [sake, much as it would increase 
the importance of the new Institution, there can be no 
doubt that it would also greatly increase its annual 
wants. 
I pursued, therefore, as much as I could, the plan for 
letting the tables in the laboratories,—a plan which has 
No, 187—VOL, viit, 
NATURE 81 
been spoken of in NATURE (vol. vi. p. 362). I am happy 
to say that at present Italy as well as Prussia has con- 
sented to hire each two tables. Bavaria, too, is likely to 
take one table, and further applications have been made 
to Saxony, to Baden, and some other places, which at 
present cannot be indicated, as negociations are still 
impending. 
The Library of the Station has made very important 
progress. The Zoological Society of London has gene- 
rously granted the complete set of their Proceedings ; the 
British Association the complete set’of their Transactions. 
Dr. Engelmann, the Leipzig publisher, has again made a 
splendid gift of all that he has published since 1870 ; Viet 
and Co., of Leipzig, have given the eight last volumes of 
the Archiv fiir Anatomie und Physiologie : Friedlander, 
of Berlin, has sent some of his most valuable books ; 
and single naturalists constantly send in their publi- 
cations. The Catalogue of th: whole Library will 
soon appear, and be delivered to the scientific public 
as Appendix to the Zeitschrift fiir wissensch:ftliche 
Zoologie. 
The Station has already made its presence felt in the 
world of Zoology, by sending to Universities and Labo- 
ratories collections of Mediterranean animals. What 
makes this especially valuable is, that by the careful way 
in which the required specimens have been prepared and 
preserved, they are always capable of being dissected and 
even studied in a histological way, which seldom is the case 
with museum specimens. Thus the Universities of Mar- 
burg, Géttingen, Munich, Strasburg, Jena, and others, 
have received such collections as were asked for by the 
Professors of Zoology; b2sides this, the zoologists that 
passed during the last winter to Naples or Messina, have 
been always assisted by the scientific staff of the Station. 
We have also succeeded in sending animals alive to 
distant places. Thus it has become very generally known 
that a small parcel containing some specimens of Am- 
phioxus has been received as a charged letter in the 
Crystal Palace Aquarium; and I hear from Mr. Lloyd 
that the small animals are still alive. We succeeded also 
in sending some large crabs over by steamer. 
It is my intention to develop as much as may be this de- 
partment of the activity of the Station, and I take this 
opportunity of stating that the Station will send Mediter- 
ranean animals of every kind and in any state of pre- 
paration to those who make application for them. The 
charges will be as moderate as possible, always in accord- 
ance with the self-supporting principle, so as to enable 
every part of the establishment to provide for its owa 
wants. ANTON DOHRN 
Naples, May 8 
GAUDIN’S “ WORLD OF ATOMS” 
DL Architecture du Monde des Atomes, devoilant la 
structure des composés chimiques et leur cristallogénie. 
Par Marc-Antoine Gaudin. (Paris : Gauthier-Villars, 
1873.) 
T is now more than forty years since Ampére, in his 
lectures at the Collége de France, was discussing 
the evidence in favour of the existence of atoms, and the 
difficulties of any scientific investigation of their properties 
and relations. M. Gaudin, one of his hearers, was struck, 
F 
