March 2, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



341 



united forming all kinds of double or mul- 

 tiple monsters. Other experiments have 

 shown that certain salt solutions will cause 

 unfertilized eggs to develop for a short time 

 in an irregular way, and only last summer 

 Professor Loeb discovered that he could 

 cause the unfertilized eggs of the sea- 

 urchin to develop into normal larvse, in 

 short, could produce artificial partheno- 

 genesis in a phylum in which it has never 

 before been known, by treating them with 

 certain salt solutions ; this is certainly one 

 of the most remarkable biological discov- 

 eries of recent years. The lines of work out- 

 lined above, together with many which 

 could not here be mentioned, and which 

 have been actively prosecuted at the Woods 

 Holl Laboratory, have been substantial 

 contributions toward the solution of some 

 of the most fundamental problems of bi- 

 ology. . 



Each year a course of general lectures on 

 various phases of biological work is given 

 by different members of the Laboratory and 

 by distinguished visitors. These lectures 

 are usually brief accounts of important in- 

 vestigations, presented in a popular form. 

 A volume of these lectures is published 

 annually and the contents of the volumes 

 form a brief index to the multifarious 

 activities of the Laboratory in research. 

 These volumes are not only important con- 

 tributions to knowledge, but still more, they 

 are brief and popular presentations of what 

 are often abstruse and difficult subjects, and 

 as such they appeal strongly to investi- 

 gators, teachers and general readers who 

 have not the time to go more fully into 

 these subjects. As showing the opinion of 

 the outside world with regard to these lec- 

 tures, the following is quoted from Natural 

 Scie7ice, December, 1899: "Every biologist 

 who is still young enough to be enthusiastic, 

 looks with eagerness about this time of year 

 for the arrival of the volume of ' Biological 

 Lectures ' from the Marine Biological Lab- 



oratory, Woods Holl, Mass. * * * One 

 cannot help feeling that the intellectual at- 

 mosphere of Woods Holl must be bracing, 

 the lectures are so vigorous. The charm of 

 these lectures may be partly due to the 

 circumstances of their delivery, but it is 

 doubtless mainly due to the fact that each 

 is an expression of personal work and per- 

 sonal interest. One cannot but be grateful 

 to the Laboratory at Woods Holl, which 

 has been the stimulus of the fine series to 

 which this volume is added, Floreat Woods 

 Holl." In addition to the volume of lec- 

 tures there is also published under the 

 auspices of the Laboratory the Biological 

 JBulletin, as well as the Annual Reports and 

 Announcements. 



The service which the Laboratory has 

 rendered to biological instruction in our 

 schools and colleges and to advanced work 

 in biology in general is incalculable ; it 

 is the biological clearing house of this 

 country, where the specialist who has been 

 unable to keep up with the general advance 

 of his science may learn from others what 

 has been transpiring in fields outside his 

 own, where teachers may exchange ideas as 

 to the best methods of instruction, where 

 distinguished men in various fields come to 

 know each other in the most intimate and 

 helpful way, and where all may get broader 

 and truer ideas of the great problems of 

 biology. The Laboratory is also a place to 

 which schools, colleges and universities are 

 coming to look for good men. This feature 

 has never before been emphasized and it 

 receives no direct attention at Woods Hall, 

 but if the indirect influence of the Labora- 

 tory in discovering good men and placing 

 them in good positions were known, it would 

 be seen that this feature is no small part of 

 the service which the Marine Biological 

 Laboratory renders to American biology. 



The confidence of the Director that the 

 Laboratory would not fail to receive the 

 support of the schools, colleges and univer- 



