510 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 404. 



and fresh water. All three forms abound 

 at Wood's Holl, and vicinity. The fresh- 

 water ponds are numerous, and many of 

 them, both on the mainland and on the 

 neighboring islands, are completely isolated 

 and stocked with forms in-bred for cen- 

 turies. Brackish water in almost every de- 

 gree, pure sea-water and tide-currents are 

 right at hand. 



Land is the next essential, and here we 

 have hill, plain, marsh, swamp, shore and 

 islands, and some of these islands are in- 

 imitable biological farms of nature's own 

 make. 



A seasonable range of temperature is 

 essential to the existence of a majority of 

 the forms best suited to cultivation and 

 study; and in this are supplied very im- 

 portant conditions for experimental work. 

 The surrounding sea protects "Wood's Holl 

 from extremes of heat and cold. 



Isolation. — The most favorable combina- 

 tion of conditions may be utterly worthless, 

 unless the farm can be made secure in its 

 isolation from the public. Its work must 

 go on in a quiet environment, where all 

 the conditions are under control, and the 

 investigator is free from the danger of in- 

 trusion. 



Mode of Development.— The work should 

 be developed slowly, section by section, each 

 section consisting of a group of related 

 species, or a single species, offering a wide 

 range of problems. 



Each section should be in charge of a 

 director, prepared to continue the work 

 during life, and supported by assistants 

 and help for all routine and mechanical 

 service. The staff would consist of direct- 

 ors, assistant investigators, artists, photog- 

 rapher, clerical help, keepers and a busi- 

 ness manager. 



Outlay and Maintenance.— The original 

 outlay for land, stock, buildings, equipment, 

 inclosures of land and water for isolation 

 purposes, would vary according to the 



forms selected for study. From $50,000 

 to $100,000 would suffice for this. The 

 maintenance of the first section, including 

 salaries, accessions to stock, library, etc., 

 may be estimated at $10,000 a year. The 

 cost of additional sections would be about 

 $5,000 each. 



Ideal Center.-The association of three 

 such institutions as the Marine Biological 

 Laboratory, the U. S. Fish Commission 

 Station, and a Biological Farm would 

 form an ideal biological center. Each 

 would help and be helped by the other 

 two. 



Cooperation.— There should undoubtedly 

 be several biological farms in the country. 

 The larger universities might well have 

 their own farms, and thus very extensive 

 and effective cooperative work be carried 

 on. 



Use to Science. — The farm would enable 

 lis to approach all the fundamental prob- 

 lems of life from the two sides of observa- 

 tion and experiment on living organisms. 

 It would furnish material for study with 

 precise records, and make it possible to 

 keep up continuity in the experimental 

 study of heredity and variation. 



Practical Utility. — The utility of such 

 work is seen when we reflect on the prac- 

 tical results already realized in the multi- 

 plication and improvement of domestic spe- 

 cies of animals and plants through cross- 

 breeding, hybridisation and selection. We 

 have very meager and uncertain knowledge 

 of the laws of heredity and variation— laws 

 which underlie all progress of the race. 

 C. 0. Whitman. 



SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 

 Manual of Astronomy, a ■ text-book. By 



Charles A. Young, Ph.D., LL.D. New 



York, Green & Company. 



The preface to this volume informs us that 

 it has been prepared in response to a rather 

 pressing demand for a text-book intermediate 



