400 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 63. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



THE WOODS HOLL MARINE BIOLOGICAL 

 LABOEATOEY. 



The Eighth Annual Report of the Trustees 

 of the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods 

 Holl has just been issued, and shows that the 

 summer of 1895 was the most successful iu the 

 history of the Laboratory. At different times 

 during the summer there were 63 investigators 

 present, 42 of whom occuisied special research 

 rooms. There were 101 students taking intro- 

 ductory courses. The whole number of students 

 who have attended the Laboratory since 1888 is 

 483. The attendance of investigators has been 

 very greatly increased by the system of coopera- 

 tion with the colleges and societies, which began 

 in 1894. At present 25 colleges subscribe for in- 

 vestigator's rooms, besides five societies, includ- 

 ing the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science and the American Society of 

 Naturalists. 



The year has been a successful one financially 

 owing to the large number of students present 

 who have paid for their instruction or through 

 the colleges for the investigators' rooms or ta- 

 bles. A few years back it was necessary to make 

 up a large deficit at the end of the year, while 

 the past year's income exceeded the total ex- 

 penses by nearly $1,000. There still remains, 

 however, a debt of $5,985. Since this report 

 was prepared, a meeting of the Trustees was 

 held in Boston to revise the constitution of the 

 Laboratory, and the following general plan was 

 submitted : To place the entire financial inter- 

 ests of the Laboratory in the hands of a special 

 finance committee. Second, to constitute from 

 the present Board of Trustees a number of 

 committees. Finally, to constitute from the 

 staff at Woods Holl and from representatives 

 of cooperating colleges a scientific board of 

 direction, who, with the Director, will control 

 the entire policy of the Laboratory and its gen- 

 eral administration. 



Encouraged by this successful year the Di- 

 rector, Professor C. O. Whitman, naturally 

 closes with a strong appeal for an expansion of 

 the resources of the Laboratory in the form of 

 endowments. He proposes that tables shall be 

 endowed at $1,250 ; investigator's rooms at 

 $2,500 ; scholarships at $200, and fellowships 



at $500. The library needs $1,000 per year 

 to keep it supplied with current publications. 

 The publication fund should amount to $2,- 

 000 annually. But the chief feature of the 

 j)roposed expansion is a main building for the 

 exclusive use of investigatoVs, providing for 

 library, auditorium, aquarium, laboratories, 

 etc., which would cost about $100,000. These 

 steps would be necessary to found an inter-col- 

 legiate Biological Station, with an annual out- 

 •lay of not less than $50,000. 



In order to support this ambitious plan, the 

 Director presents an exceptionally full and 

 able report, tracing the whole past history of 

 the Laboratory. His main contention is that the 

 Laboratory was founded for instruction as well 

 as for investigation in Biology, and that at the 

 outset it was proposed to establish- an ideal Bi- 

 ological Station, organized on a basis broad 

 enough to represent the important features of 

 the several types of laboratories hitherto known 

 in Europe and America. The report aims to 

 show that the elementary instruction depart- 

 ment ( a feature which distinguishes the Amer- 

 ican station from all those in Europe ) is neces- 

 sary in order to train the investigators, or, to 

 use his own language : 



"The instruction cannot be made too strong, 

 for its strength is continually being transferred 

 to investigation; and every proper expansion 

 of investigation must react to improve and en- 

 rich instruction." He goes on to say that the 

 instruction has not interfered with investigation, 

 because the investigators have increased almost 

 as rapidly as the elementary students. There 

 were 9 investigators in 1888 and 63 in 1895. 

 There were 8 elementary students in 1888 and 

 101 in 1895. He concludes : " Comparing the 

 last four years of growth with the first four, it 

 will be seen that we moved on with no very 

 great gains in the earlier period, while the later 

 period is marked by a sudden rise in standing, 

 50 per cent, of membership, and a gain of over 

 100 per cent, on the investigator's side. In 

 1894 a new laboratory was constructed and the 

 Director recommends the construction of an- 

 other temporary laboratory in 1896, in order to 

 meet the pressing needs of the present growth. 

 Much progress has been made in the general 

 financial support of the Laboratory, which has 



