Septkmbeb as, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



507 



to force from nature more complete records 

 of her past and present doings. 



Work on living- organisms, dealing with 

 such subjects as heredity, variation, adap- 

 tation, correlation, development, recapitu- 

 lation, hybridisation, origin of species, na- 

 ture of specific characters, life-histories, 

 habits, instincts, intelligence, etc., requir- 

 ing uninterrupted continuance from year 

 to year for long periods, under conditions 

 that secure most favorable control for ex- 

 perimentation and study, calls for facilities 

 which have yet to be provided. 



There is no quite satisfactory name for 

 the new plant required for such work, and 

 no one has suggested a practical method 

 of developing it. Biological Farm, broadly 

 defined, is perhaps the best we can do for 

 a name, as the work would be, so far as 

 possible, upon plants and animals under 

 cultivation. A considerable tract of land, 

 of varied surface, including woods, fresh- 

 water ponds, some brackish water, and a 

 stretch of sea-shore that could be utilized 

 in the cultivation and study of marine ani- 

 mals, would represent the essentials of the 

 farm headquarters. 



The best location for the farm would be 

 in the immediate vicinity of a laboratory 

 holding the position of a national center 

 of biological research. The Marine Bio- 

 logical Laboratory has a good prospect of 

 becoming such a center, if it is not one 

 already, and its proximity to the United 

 States Fish Commission Station only in- 

 sures additional advantages, of great im- 

 portance to the farm. The farm, the lab- 

 oratory, and the station would be recip- 

 rocally helpful and stimulating, and in 

 many problems the three could work hand 

 in hand, each supplementing the work of 

 the others. These three establishments 

 would form a most comprehensive biolog- 

 ical center, such as has never been equaled. 



In dealing with the problems of heredity 

 and variation, it is of the highest impor- 



tance to know the history of the material 

 to be investigated. It is this prime essen- 

 tial that is so conspicuously missing in most 

 of the work hitherto done in these lines. 

 Curves and formula; may be all right 

 mathematically and yet all wrong biolog- 

 ically. Even Galton, the father of the 

 statistical school, warns us that 'no pursuit 

 runs between so many pitfalls and unseen 

 traps as that of statistics.' ('Biometrika,' 

 I., p. 8.) 



The farm will furnish material with ex- 

 act records, and will thus render a most im- 

 portant service to laboratory workers. A 

 single illustration will suffice. It has been 

 discovered that the paternal and maternal 

 chromosomes in the cross-fertilized egg re- 

 main distinct, at least in the earlier stages 

 of development. This seems to account 

 for the fact that hybrids of the first gen- 

 eration between distinct species are gener- 

 ally 'intermediates.' When these hybrids 

 breed inter se or with the parent species, 

 we often get so-called ' reversions. ' Hitherto 

 we have not found any explanation for 

 these 'reversions.' The solution of this 

 most interesting problem in heredity only 

 waits for the right material with precisely 

 defined origin, and for this the laboratory 

 could look to the farm. But the farm 

 would do more than supply the needed ma- 

 terial; its records and experiments would 

 suggest the theory and give the physiolog- 

 ical test, while the laboratory work would 

 find the morphological test. The coopera- 

 tion between laboratory and farm would 

 thus be intimate and of inestimable value 

 in a multitude of ways. 



It must be remembered, moreover, that 

 Wood's Holl has great natural advantages 

 as a location for the farm. Ever since 

 Baird's time it has been generally known 

 that this is the best place on the Atlantic 

 coast for the study of marine biology. In- 

 deed, Wood's Holl has become a strong 

 biological center by virtue of the excep- 



