December 10, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



835 



surroundings. These two factors Dohm con- 

 sidered to be of the greatest importance in 

 indirectly influencing the character of the 

 work to be undertaken. 



The events of the past year have proved 

 how fortunate it was that Naples, and not 

 Messina, as was originally intended, should 

 be the site of the aquarium. 



In the organization of the aquarium the 

 university idea was developed to a degree 

 never before practically realized. In practise 

 as well as theory this was an institution of 

 learning as distinct from teaching. Here are 

 gathered together at one time as many as 

 seventy or eighty representatives of the lead- 

 ing universities of the world; professors, as- 

 sistants and occasionally undergraduate stu- 

 dents, all engaged in carrying on investiga- 

 tions. (The expenses of the zoological sta- 

 tion are in part defrayed by money received 

 from the sale of entrance tickets to the 

 aquarium, and in part by the subvention of 

 different countries. Germany pays for 22 

 places in the laboratory, Italy for 9, the 

 United States for 5, England for 3, Russia 

 4, Austria 2, Hungary, Holland, Belgium, 

 Switzerland and Eoumania each 1.) 



Here zoologists, chemists, anatomists, physi- 

 ologists, pathologists, practising physicians 

 and professional philosophers are all intent 

 upon the study of various problems, the solu- 

 tion of which will eventually throw more light 

 upon the origin and nature of the vital proc- 

 esses in the lower organisms, and consequently 

 and ultimately in man. Thoroughly imbued 

 with the spirit of Darwin, Dohm long ago 

 realized that the only successful way to under- 

 stand the complex phenomena of human life 

 was to begin by studying the simpler manifes- 

 tations in the lower animals. The continuity 

 and similarity of the life processes in the 

 whole scale of animal life is unbroken. " You 

 scientists have little understanding of his- 

 tory," complained Mommsen ; " Why assume," 

 retorted Dohrn, " that history begins and ends 

 with man's appearance on the earth? Here 

 in the aquarium we are interested in ancient 

 history, for here we study man's ancestors." 



From the crest of the mountains back of 



Sorrento, turning to the south, one looks 

 down upon the Gulf of Salerno, on whose 

 shores for centuries stood the most famous 

 medical school of medieval times, where were 

 gathered from the shores of Africa and Eu- 

 rope the most renowned students of their day. 

 To-day, only the memory of that school re- 

 mains. Turning to the north one beholds the 

 great expanse of the Bay of Naples, and by 

 the aid of a glass discovers the aquarium, the 

 institution which to-day has fallen heir to all 

 that was best in the traditions of the Salerno 

 school. The latter was a slow growth, the re- 

 sult of the labors of many men upbuilding 

 painfully for many years while the Naples 

 Aquarium was the creation of one man — 

 Anton Dohrn, whose life was devoted to de- 

 vising and perfecting unequaled facilities for 

 the study of zoology; and he builded better 

 than he knew, for he actually, although un- 

 consciously, created a university. Year after 

 year a greater number of trained investiga- 

 tors, representing practically all the civilized 

 governments of the world, are gathered to- 

 gether at the aquarium than are to be found 

 in any other institution in the world. Within 

 this building, racial prejudices and differences 

 are ignored or forgotten by the brotherhood 

 of scholars who carry on their work for the 

 benefit of their common humanity. 



The scientific work of Dohm has received 

 generous commendation from his fellow work- 

 ers in the sciences, but it still remains for 

 those who labor to preserve the peace of the 

 world to show their appreciation of the quiet, 

 unostentatious but potent influence upon the 

 thought of mankind of " the peace congress " 

 which is continuously in session at the Naples 

 Aquarium. Stewart Paton 



Princeton, N. J. 



THE PALEONTOLOOICAL SOCIETY 

 At the first meeting of the society at 10 a.m., 

 on December 29, in the University Museum, 

 Cambridge, there will be a Conference on the 

 Aspects of Paleontology, the program of which 

 is as follows : 



Adequacy of the Paleontologic Record: Samuel 

 Calvin, R. S. Bassler. 



