1916] Introduction v 



organism can hi' fully understood so long as any other phenomenon 

 likewise essential to it is entirely ignored. This does not imply that 

 the marine biologist must set out with a grim determination to investi- 

 gate exhaustively, without rhyme or reason, every organism in the sea. 

 Such a course woaild be folly indeed. But it does predicate that 

 the point of view with which any particular problem is attacked must 

 be so broad and comprehensive as to forestall the too frequent claim 

 that the "ultimate" mystery of life is about to be discovered. It 

 implies that continuous and intimately co-ordinated investigations in 

 morphology, embryology, cytology, physiology, ecology, are required 

 in order that headway may be made toward solving the problems of 

 marine biology. Every problem investigated must be .subordinated 

 to this conception ; each must be so defined and studied as to con- 

 tribute its quota toward understanding marine organisms. 



Many prominent marine biological institutions, however, regard 

 marine organisms from a quite different point of view. Consider, for 

 example, the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory.' No one alive 

 to the progress of American biology during the past three decades can 

 fail to attribute a large part of this progress to the influence of this 

 laboratory. Yet. strictly speaking, scarcely a single investigation 

 carried on under its auspices has been one in marine biology, but 

 rather, as Ritter (1905, p. ii) has aptly stated: in "general biologt; 

 prosecuted by researches on marine organisms." To quote further: 

 "The user of marine organi.sms in such investigations is quite indif- 

 ferent to everything concerning them that does not bear directly upon 

 his particular problem. He puts aside the marine animal after it has 

 served his purpose without having even noticed, perhaps, the major 

 part of its traits and qualities and the questions concerning it." 

 Again (p. ii) he says: "The investigator makes use of animals and 

 plants that live in the sea in general biological researches. That these 

 organisms happen to be marine is an incident merely. The investigator 

 turns away from them without hesitation when others, from whatever 

 source, come to hand that suit his purpose better." The investigator 

 with such aims makes no attempt to understand marine organisms as 

 such. 



Perhaps the difference in point of view will be more clearly revealed 

 by considering the aims and work of the Naples Zoological Station. 



1 There are in reality two marine biological laboratories at Woods Hole. One 

 is locally known as the " M. B. L. " and the other as the Fisheries Station. Note- 

 worthy researches have been prosecuted at both, but these remarks relate prim- 

 arily to the M. B. L. 



