January 14, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



43 



the modern natural liistory, for wliieli 

 Darwin laid the foundation, and which 

 Semper, Romanes, Galton, Weismann, Va- 

 rigny, Lloyd' Morgan and others have ad- 

 vocated and practiced to the extent of the 

 meager means at their command. The 

 plan which I should propose, however, has 

 not, so far as I am aware, been definitely 

 formulated by any one, although some of 

 its features were indicated several years 

 ago, when I proposed such a station in con- 

 nection with the University of Chicago. 

 The essentials of the plan were sketched 

 as follows : 



" Experimental biology represents not 

 only an extension of physiological inquiry 

 into all provinces of life, but also the appli- 

 cation of its methods to morphological prob- 

 lems — in short, it covers the whole field in 

 which physiology and morphology can work 

 best hand in hand. * * * 



" A lake biological station equipped for 

 experimental work would mark a new de- 

 parture for which science is now ripe. 

 Such a station has nowhere been provided, 

 but its need has been felt and acknowl- 

 edged by the foremost biologists of to-day. 

 There are no problems in the whole range 

 of biology of higher scientific interest or 

 deeper practical import to humanity than 

 those which center in variation and hered- 

 ity. For the solution of these problems, 

 and a thousand others that turn upon them, 

 facilities for long-continued experimental study, 

 under conditions that admit of perfect control, 

 must be provided. Such facilities imply, first 

 of all, material for study, and that nature 

 here supplies in rich abundance. Then a 

 convenient observatory, with a scientific 

 stafi", is required. In addition, and this is 

 all-important, there should be not only 

 aquaria and plenty of running water, but 

 also a number of ponds with a continuous 

 supply of water, so arranged that the forms 

 under observation could be bred and reared 

 in isolation when necessary. Finally, there 



should be room for keeping land animals 

 and plants under favorable conditions for 

 cultivation and study. A station with 

 such facilities as have been briefly indi- 

 cated would furnish ideal conditions for 

 the prosecution of research in nearly every 

 department of biology, and especially in 

 embryology and physiology." * 



If such a station could be developed in 

 immediate connection with the plant al- 

 ready under way at Woods HoU we might 

 begin to realize what a biological station 

 stands for. 



We need to get more deeply saturated 

 with the meaning of the word ' biological,' 

 and to keep renewing our faith in it as a 

 governing conception. Our centrifugal 

 specialties have no justification except in 

 the ensemble, and each one of them is pro- 

 lific in grotesque absurdities, for which 

 there is no correction in disconnection with 

 the organic whole. But why talk of an or- 

 ganic whole which no man can grasp or 

 make any pretension to mastering? Pre- 

 cisely that makes it necessary to talk and 

 act as if we knew the fact, and as if our 

 inability had not rendered us insensible 

 to our need. Physiology is meaningless 

 without morphology, and morphology 

 equally so without physiology. Both find 

 their meaning in biology, and in nothing 

 less. What an absurdity was human 

 anatomy without comparative anatomy, 

 and comparative anatomy was only a much 

 bigger absurdity until the general connec- 

 tion of things began to dawn in the concep- 

 tions of biology. Just think of a physiolo- 

 gist seriously proclaiming to the world that 

 instinct reduces itself in the last analysis to 

 heliotropism, stereotropism and the like. 

 The whole course of evolution drops out of 

 sight altogether, and things are explained 

 as if the organic world were a chemical 

 creation only a few hours old. The ab- 

 surdity is no greater than for a geologist to 



* Program of Courses in Biology, Chicago, 1892. 



