Maech 31, 1899.] 



SCIENCE. 



From this high platform the land falls rapidly 

 toward the sea, but the grassy slope is broken 

 here and there by terraced paths and drives and 

 the sea breaks at the base on rugged limestone 

 cliflfs. Nestled among the nooks and crannies 

 of the rocks are various public bath-houses, 

 and until the end of November numerous bath- 

 ers might be seen diving, swimming or sunning 

 themselves like seals on the rocks. These rocks 

 constitute a most beautiful piece of cliflf scenery, 

 and from the top of the promenade the view is 

 magnificent. Northward lie the hills of the 

 city and beyond these the wild uplands of 

 Dartmoor; to the south, at one's feet, lies the 

 harbor with all its busy shipping, red-sailed 

 fishing craft and strange looking warships. 

 The harbor, or 'sound,' as it is called, is a bay, 

 roughly speaking rectangular in shape, some 

 three miles deep and about as broad, bounded 

 by headlands upwards of four hundred feet 

 high, falling abruptly, and in many places pre- 

 cipitously, to the sea. 



Official documents state that the defences of 

 this sound includefourteen miles of fortifications, 

 and as many of these are on the headlands 

 their towers, angles and projections break the 

 sky line and add interest and beauty to the 

 scenery. The entrance to the sound is pro- 

 tected by a breakwater (on which is a light- 

 house and a fort) a mile in length, thus convert- 

 ing what must have been but a wild and danger- 

 ous anchorage into a safe harbor. A few days 

 ago we had a southwester which broke the 

 record. The harbor was full of shipping, and it 

 was interesting to stand on the Hoe in a shel- 

 tered place and see the havoc. A good deal of 

 damage was done, but no lives were lost. The 

 word ' Hoe,' I am told, is an old name for 

 ' Hill,' and is common along this coast, for 

 example, Plymouth Hoe, School Hoe, Sted- 

 combe Hoe, Mort Hoe, Croyte Hoe, Martin 

 Hoe, etc., along the coasts of Devon and 

 Cornwall. Moreover, there are numerous 

 'Holes' along this coast. Rent's Hole, Croft 

 Hole, Mouse Hole, Hole's Hole, Butter Hole, 

 Daddy Hole, Kent's Hole, etc. Speaking with- 

 out any philological knowledge whatsoever, I 

 more than suspect that ' Hoe ' and ' Hole ' may 

 originally have been the same word, though I 

 have not found any very competent authority 



on which to rest such a theory. What first 

 suggested it was the fact, generally accepted 

 hereabouts, that Hoe means hill, and in the dis- 

 covery that at least two of the above-mentioned 

 Holes were hills where there are no ' holes ' (or 

 harbors) in the land. Whatever the origin of 

 Hole may be, it is interesting to note that both 

 Hoe and Hole are ' west-country ' names, i. e. , 

 belong to Devon and Cornwall. The only 

 ' Holes ' on the New England coast, so far as I 

 know, are in southern Massachusetts, and in that 

 part of the State are also Plymouth, Falmouth, 

 Dartmouth, Truro, etc., all Devon and Cornish 

 names, and the association of these with Wood's 

 Hole, Holmes' Hole (now Vineyard Haven), 

 Quick's Hole, and the like, is interesting. 



Directly under the walls of an old iron-clad 

 fortress which crowns the southern end of the 

 Plymouth Hoe stands the Laboratory of the 

 Marine Biological Association of Great Britain. 

 Between the Laboratory and the fort — a distance 

 of fifty yards — are a garden and tennis-court, 

 while the sun reflected from the limestone wall 

 beyond has all the value for microscopic work 

 of a white cloud perpetually anchored in the 

 right place. Those who built the fort did not ^ 

 know what good work they were doing for 

 naturalists. On the other side of the Laboratory 

 the land falls away abruptly to the sea. The 

 designers of the Laboratory building had no idea, 

 however, of exposing the naturalist when armed 

 with dip-net and bucket for a collecting trip to 

 the gaze of the curious public, for a cleverly 

 constructed tunnel leads from the basement 

 under the foot- and driveway directly to the 

 cliffs whence a path winds downwards to the 

 boat-landing and the beach. 



The Laboratory building is a handsome stone 

 structure 179 feet long. The central part, 

 70 X 34, is two stories in height, while at each 

 end the remaining portion is higher and broader, 

 thus giving an effect of low, flanking towers. 

 In one of these towers is the residence of the 

 Director, while in the other are rooms for the 

 engineer, caretaker, etc. , on the lower story, and 

 in the second, chemical laboratories and supply 

 department, with the library above in the third 

 story. The library is a charming room, having 

 two open fireplaces and offering a view which 

 is so attractive as seriously to interfere with hard 



