498 



NATURE 



\_March 25, 188 c 



delusively assigned to them, and subsequently having 

 proved to be failures and wind-bags, the real worthy 

 object in the name of which they have been paraded, 

 suffers. It is only too readily accepted by the unbelieving 

 Philistine that such-and-such a scheme has been tried 

 and has proved to be a failure, when in reality only a 

 puffed-up substitute, and not the scheme in question, has 

 ever had a chance. 



The term "zoological station" is suggestive of these 

 remarks. The term was introduced by Dr. Anton Dohrn 

 when about to establish at Naples a large aquarium con- 

 nected with a series of laboratories, worked by a perma- 

 nent staff of scientific observers and of fishermen and 

 other attendants. Dr. Dohrn had a very clear notion of 

 what he meant by a "zoological station," and has shown 

 what that notion was by carrying it fully into effect, de- 

 voting thereto indomitable will and untiring energy. Dr. 

 Dohrn's notion of a zoological station was an institution 

 which should play somewhat the same part in zoology 

 as the State astronomical observatories do in astronomy. 

 A favourable locality was to be chosen, a building erected 

 with all appliances for observation, and a staff of workers 

 employed in making observations. A special feature in 

 these " stations " was, however, anticipated, and has proved 

 in the working of that at Naples to be a practical feature, 

 viz., that capable investigators would from time to time leave 

 their home-avocations and come to make observations for 

 a few months at a time in the well-equipped well-located 

 "station." The total cost of erecting and fitting the 

 Naples zoological station cannot have been less than from 

 12,000/. to 15,000/., whilst its income derived from various 

 endowments and fees, and expended upon its maintenance 

 and in the salaries of its officials is not less than 3,000/. a 

 year. 



That any enthusiastic young person who may unfold 

 his umbrella on the sea-shore and contemplate under its 

 shadow the starfish washed to his feet — should say that 

 he has " opened a zoological station " may be strictly true- 

 so far as the etymology of the words "zoological " and 

 " station " respectively is concerned ; but it is at the same 

 time a misleading announcement, and likely to do more 

 harm than good to the cause of zoological stations. 



There is no need to call a little sea-side laboratory by 

 the pompous title which gains its connotation from Dr. 

 Dohrn's magnificent institution on the Mediterranean 

 shore, and it is a very satisfactory thing that such labora- 

 tories, open under certain conditions to naturalists who 

 wish to make use of them, are coming into existence. At 

 Concarneau, on the Brittany coast, the French Govern- 

 ment had started a laboratory (under M. Co^te) even 

 before Dr. Dohrn" s enterprise at Naples ; M. de Lacaze 

 Duthiers has since established a small laboratory at 

 Roscoff, and the Austrian Government has constructed a 

 laboratory and aquariums at Trieste which may one day 

 rival those of Naples in extent and completeness. 



Soon after Dr. Dohrn's institution had been set going, 

 a liberal American offered to the late Prof. Agassiz the 

 island of Pennikese as a site for a " zoological station.'' 

 The attempt was forthwith made to make bricks without 

 straw ; a class of students were landed on Pennikese, and 

 after a sort of holiday pic-nic of some weeks, returned 

 home. No money was forthcoming to build the neces- 

 sary laboratories and to maintain the necessary staff of 

 scientific and other employe's ; so the Pennikese "station" 

 was quietly and very wisely dropped. Mr. Alexander 

 Agassiz has since constructed for himself (and described 

 in Nature) a private laboratory on the coast where he 

 Carrie's on his own admirable researches, and can receive 

 three or four other naturalists, and give them working- 

 room. This is no doubt the reasonable thing to do, sup- 

 posing a limited sum of money is at command. It is of 

 no use to proclaim in the absence of abundant straw that 

 you are about to start a fine brick-field ; you must either 

 abandon the business altogether or be content to make 



a quiet little heap with the aid of what straw you have 

 at command. 



These things cannot be done without money, and at 

 present the public in England and America will not sub- 

 scribe so handsomely towards the erection of the first 

 zoological station as they do to that of the fifty thousandth 

 church. They were taught long ago to subscribe to 

 church-building by the example of states and princes. It 

 requires some such initiation to render the subscription 

 lists of zoological stations popular. 



In the absence of paternal governments and intelligent 

 princes, where can zoologists look for the supply of the 

 funds necessary to start zoological stations, necessary- 

 even for more modest institutions which may be called 

 " sea-side laboratories " ? Assuredly it is the business of 

 Universities possessing some disposable funds and as yet 

 free from the imbecility which Government commissions 

 leave as their mark upon commission- ridden academies, 

 to start such laboratories. Oxford or Cambridge, or both 

 together, might support a very nice little laboratory at 

 Guernsey, or Falmouth, or Arran, which would be managed 

 by a resident director, and continually frequented in vaca- 

 tion time by the advanced students of the Universities, 

 as well as by other naturalists from all parts of the 

 country. It seems, however, improbable that such a 

 laboratory will be immediately started by either Oxford 

 or Cambridge. It is probable that the newest of univer- 

 sities, and one of the most active and efficient, if we may 

 judge by the work produced ^by its students, fellows, 

 and professors, viz., the Johns Hopkins University of 

 Baltimore, U.S.A., will be the first to possess a sea-side 

 laboratory of its own. 



Already in the year 1878, Mr. W. K. Brooks, now 

 assistant Professor of Comparative Anatomy in the 

 University, was charged with the superintendence of a 

 summer class in a temporary laboratory at Chesapeake. 

 The scientific results of this session have been published 

 by Mr. Brooks, and include some good observations by 

 students of the University, besides his own— the more 

 interesting notices relating to the development of Lingula 

 and of Gastropod molluscs. 



Last year Mr. Brooks was engaged on the study of the 

 development of the oyster, and subsequently undertook 

 again the direction of a temporary laboratory on the 

 coast where work was done as yet unpublished. There 

 is now a probability that the Chesapeake laboratory may 

 be placed on a permanent footing, and it is, perhaps, 

 pardonable for Transatlantic colleagues to express the 

 opinion that such a slcp would be one of great and serious 

 importance for the welfare of zoological study. It is 

 quite evident that at Chesapeake there is access to a 

 varied and abundant faun 1, including some of the most 

 interesting of marine forms, some not to be met with in 

 European waters. It is also clear that there are capable 

 students ready to avail themselves of the facilities of a 

 laboratory, and energy and talent of the right kind to 

 keep the institution at work. The spasmodic descent 

 upon the sea-coast in a summer vacation, which is all 

 that many a naturalist can, under present conditions, 

 afford, is a very delightful thing, and may sometimes 

 lead to the collection of a few new species of one 

 1 or another : but it is not in this way that 

 the zoology of to-day can be forwarded. Protracted 

 and minute study of the steps of development of all 

 organisms is what is now necessary, and, similarly, careful 

 observation at all times of the year of the habits and 

 changes of adult forms. For this purpose a naturalist 

 should be permanently (at any rate during a portion of 

 his career) resident upon the coast. There is, further, a 

 mire obvious advantage and a very real one in the con- 

 ditions of a permanent sea-side laboratory. The locality 

 becomes thoroughly well known to the naturalists who 

 frequent it; the accumulated knowledge is handed on 

 from year to year, until at last what were regarded as 



