Septbmbee 26, 1902.J 



SCIENCE. 



509 



If the scheme here outlined approaches 

 the ideal which science is waiting to see 

 realized, it will be seen that the farm does 

 not find its chief purpose in demonstrations 

 of the truth of evolution or in testing the 

 theory of natural selection. It is not a 

 project designed simply to turn out curves 

 and formula for the delectation of the 

 knight- errants of statistical lore, nor is it 

 the particular pet of any school or fad. 

 Moreover, the prevailing idea that it has 

 something in common with a zoological or 

 botanical park rests on a total misappre- 

 hension. The organization, management 

 and all the conditions obtaining in the 

 public park are incongruous with those re- 

 qiiired for a research farm. Heterogeneous 

 collections of animals, exhibited for the 

 amusement of people, are wholly vinsuited 

 to the purposes of investigation in time, 

 place and character. For the kind of work 

 contemplated, the investigator must have 

 forms of his own selection, collected, ar- 

 ranged and kept for his special purposes. 

 He must have complete and permanent 

 control of his quarters and the forms he 

 is to study, and above all, complete isolation 

 from the puhlic. Only under such condi- 

 tions could he have the unbroken quiet re- 

 quired in delicate observation, or expect 

 natural behavior from the forms occupying 

 his attention. 



The farm project, let me say in conclu- 

 sion, is one we cannot afford to see drawn 

 away from Wood's Holl. It is an under- 

 taking born and nurtured here, on a small 

 scale to be sure, but still sufficient to give 

 results and make clear the direct path to 

 a large and most important development. 



SUMMARY STATEMENT. 



Laboratories.— The biological labora- 

 tories of to-day are almost exclusively de- 

 voted to the study of 'pickled' animals and 

 plants. They have very few and inadequate 

 facilities for the study of living organisms. 



This is a limitation for which no remedy 

 has thus far been provided. 



Field-work.— Fov the stiidy of develop- 

 ment, growth, life-histories, species, habits, 

 instincts, intelligence, heredity, variation, 

 adaptation, hybridisation, etc., we can 

 depend neither upon the laboratory nor 

 upon the field-work of naturalists. A 

 world-wide field in which there can be no 

 control of the forms to be studied, and no 

 possibility of continuity in observation or 

 opportunity for experiment, obviously does 

 not meet the requirements of science. 



Biological Farm. — The laboratory is too 

 narrow, and the world too wide for the con- 

 tinuous study of living organisms, under 

 conditions that can be definitely known and 

 controlled. For such study, selected groups 

 of organisms and a limited territory, with 

 favorable conditions of land, water and 

 food, are needed. Territory, living organ- 

 isms and scientific staff would constitute 

 a new plant, which might be called a Bio- 

 logical Farm. 



Grounds.— The grounds of a biological 

 farm would vary in extent with the growth 

 of the work, from ten to a hundred or more 

 acres. Land, woods, fresh-water ponds, 

 sea-shore and islands would make a good 

 combination. 



Location. — The location of headquarters 

 should be at a biological center, near labo- 

 ratories drawing a large number of investi- 

 gators, but at a safe distance from any 

 large city or summer resort. These prime 

 advantages of situation superadded to the 

 exceptional natural advantages of avail- 

 able grounds are represented at Wood's 

 Holl. 



Natural Conditions.— A biological farm 

 should inchide the largest possible diversity 

 of natural conditions to insure wide free- 

 dom of development and opportunity for 

 experimentation. Water is the first essen- 

 tial, and three forms of this element are 

 needed, namely, sea-water, brackish water, 



