128 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XXII. No. 553 



The instruction is largely personal. From 9 till 10 a. m. 

 there is a general lecture, bearing on the form that is to 

 be studied that day. This lecture is always given by some 

 specialist in that particular groiip. To-day, for instance, 

 the form under study will be a sponge; the morning lecture 

 then will be by some investigator who is making sponges 

 his special study. After this lecture the day is given up 

 to study, and the instructors are always near, with criticism 

 and suggestion, clearing away the difficulties as they arise, 

 until the student, working form after form, gradually 

 masters the technique and learns in part to interpret facts 

 for himself. 



After this course, if he chooses to return another year 

 and persue the work further, he takes a table in the upi^er 

 laboratory, where he is given some problem to solve, which 

 is not too difficult, and here again he is helped over the 

 hard jDlaces, until, having had sufficient preliminary train- 

 ing, he is capable of choosing and solving his own problems. 



For those who carry on special investigations private 

 rooms are provided, where they may work undisturbed 

 and in perfect quiet. 



This year there are thirty-four of these rooms, each oc- 

 cupied by some investigator, working at some problem 

 whose solution will have an important bearing on the scien- 

 tific thought of the day. 



This summer gathering of our biologists and scientists 

 at the Marine Biological Laboratory, aj^art from the 

 natural advantages of the place, is of the greatest help 

 and importance. There is an enthusiasm and stimulus in 

 the numbers and personal contact which nothing else 

 gives. Men of different schools, working in widely sejDara- 

 ted fields, here meet and compare ideas and methods. 

 Their lines of work continually cross and the helj) of a 

 specialist's suggestions at these points cannot be overesti- 

 mated. Hardly a pa^Der goes to joress, but that it has first 

 received the honest judgment and criticism of those 

 whom the author most wishes to reach. 



Every point of interest and doubt is carefully weighed 

 and discussed, and very seldom does error escaj)e detec- 

 tion. As often happened this year, papers which have 

 been long in ^preparation, and discoveries that are entire- 

 ly new, are delivered as lectures before the whole student 

 body, and are afterward discussed, allowing every one 

 the privilege of expressing his criticism and opinion. 

 This is not only of immense value to the author, but 

 all present are thus kept in the verj' van of scientific 

 thought. 



The student who wishes to come to Wood's HoU does 

 not necessarily need to be working some problem of 

 marine life, to enjoy the advantages of the Laboratory. 

 His work may be such that requires the fresh-water jjonds, 

 or the woods and fields, it may be; if so, they are all at 

 hand. The character of the surrounding land is almost 

 as varied as that of the water. The green and rolling- 

 hills, the winding road-ways, the quiet, shady ponds, — all 

 combine to make the country round about Wood's Holl a 

 land of deUght to the summer visitor, whether he be 

 student or pleasure seeker. 



One of the newest features of the Marine Biological 

 Laboratory is the Department of Physiology. This was 

 first opened last year under Dr. Jacques Loeb, of the Uni- 

 versity of Chicago. This year professors from Harvard 

 Medical School, the College of Physicians and Surgeons, 

 from Johns Hopkins and other such schools have occupied 

 the rooms and have placed the department on a sure and 

 successful footing. 



The Botanical Department gave a course in Crypto- 

 gamic Botany in reference to marine algse and a parallel 

 course in comparative forms of Fungi. The department 

 was crowded, several specialists investigating problems 

 connected with marine plant-life. 



The "Sup)ply Department" of the Laboratory, while it 

 is a side issue and of no special concern to the summer 

 student, is nevertheless an institution of great interest 

 and importance to every zoological teacher in the coun- 

 try. The collecting is under the care of Mr. F. W. 

 Wamsley, who has had much experience in the work, and 

 he has reduced the business of collecting, killing and 

 ]3reserving, to a science. 



Full data accompany every specimen. The date, 

 even the hour in some cases, the location, dejsth of water, 

 character of bottom, and many other minor details, are 

 carefully noted. Then the killing fluid is tested and p)ro- 

 piortioned, and so on through every step in the process of 

 fixing the tissues, which is often very complicated, until 

 the specimen is finally preserved in the proper alcohol. 

 As the value of a zoological specimen jJreserved for class 

 use, or for histological j)urposes, depends entirely upon 

 the methods used in its preservation, it should be, and is, 

 a source of great satisfaction to know that the Marine 

 Biological Laboratory has established a department 

 where such material can be sujDplied, which formerly 

 could not well be had short of Naples. 



The excellent library of the Laboratory is at all times 

 open to the student. The Laboratory is a regular sub- 

 scriber to about thirty of the leading biological and other 

 scientific papers of our own and foreign countries. Be- 

 sides this, the Boston Society of Natural History has gen- 

 erously placed the use of their library at the disposal of 

 the Laboratory, and the library at the Laboratory has 

 been in this way effectively sup)plemented. 



The evening lecture course for the session of '93 was 

 like that of former years, dealing mainly with subjects of 

 general interest. Night after night the little lecture 

 room was crowded with the students and their friends 

 and the jjeojjle from the village. 



Such, in brief outline, is the Marine Biological Labor-' 

 atory at the close of its sixth year. 



We are justly proud of what it has been and now is. 

 Its short history is one of severest struggle. What it 

 now is, is owing to the generosity and earnest labor of a 

 few; what it is to be, depends, in j^art, on your generos- 

 ity and mine. What it may be, is summed up in these 

 few words from the last report of its director. Dr. C. 0. 

 Whitman, "We have now seen about the limit of what 

 can be accomp)iished without. funds. The two functions 

 of instruction and investigation have worked admirably 

 together, each growing stronger in the success of the 

 other. We have endeavored to keep the two properly 

 balanced, but I think we have nearly reached the limit of 

 our capacity for instruction with our p)resent space and 

 means. We already see that to tax our teaching forces 

 much more, would not tend to improve the side of in- 

 vestigation. For further development, then, two things 

 have to be provided, namely, ruom and funds. As we can- 

 not well enlarge our building, and as the conditions for 

 both branches of our work could be immensely improved 

 by providing a separate building for the investigators, our 

 next step is clearly defined: It is a suitable observatory for 

 the exclusive use of those engaged in original research. 

 Prep)aratory to this, a site is to be selected and secured. 

 This done, the plan of the building worked out, the 

 equipment estimated, the income necessary to the main- 

 tenance of the observatory, with its ofiicers and scientific 

 staff ascertained, we shall be prepared to lay the whole 

 matter before any one who may be disposed to contribute 

 to the foundation of a biological observatory — an observ- 

 atory which shall be an honor to America, and worthy of 

 that p)romising science of the future to which the world 

 looks for grander discoveries than have yet enriched 

 human knowledge or contributed to the welfare and ad- 

 vancement of the race." 



