1895.] The Cold Spring Harbor Biological Laboratory 229 
from New York, the great centre of travel, it is most easy of 
access to students in any of the eastern states. It is situated 
on the north shore of Long Island at the head of one of its 
most beautiful bays. A more charming location for a marine 
laboratory could hardly be chosen. At this place Long Island 
is somewhat hilly and wooded, in marked contrast to the 
general flatness which characterizes the greater part of its sur- 
face. Here the wooded hills are close to the shore and the 
forests extend almost to the very water’s edge, giving the un- 
usual appearance of a wooded sea shore. The beauty of the 
place is enhanced by the presence of numerous fresh water 
springs which have given rise to the name of Cold Spring 
Harbor, and which pour an undiminished current of the clear- 
est, coldest fresh water into the bay at all seasons of the year, 
unaffected in amount or in temperature, winter and summer 
alike. Three beautiful ponds produced by these springs give 
a fresh water fauna and flora which, added to the marine life 
of the bay, make the location of the Cold Spring Harbor in 
some respects unique and especially favorable for biological 
work. 
The biological laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor was organ- 
ized as a branch of Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. 
The excellent work of this institution of public instruction is 
widely known in educational circles. In the year 1889 Pro- 
fessor F. W. Hooper, its secretary, conceived the desirability of 
establishing as a branch department of the work of the Insti- 
tute, a summer school of biology. With the coöperation of 
the New York State Fish Commission and a number of gentle- 
men who became interested in the undertaking, the Brooklyn 
Institute organized such a summer school of Biology, which 
was located in the building of the New York Fish Hatchery at 
Cold Spring Harbor and held its first session in July and 
August, 1890. The school has continued at the same place until 
the present time, holding a session each summer, and has been 
constantly growing in size and in the value of the work that 
„it carries on. The laboratory still retains its connection with, 
“and has been partly supported by the Brooklyn Institute, 
although it is drawing its students from a larger and larger 
16 
