1897.] Scientific News. 917 
SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 
A Statement to the Corporation from the! Trustees of the 
Marine Biological Laboratory.—The annual meetings of the 
corporation will hereafter be held at Woods Holl in August, instead of 
Boston in November, and absent members can now vote by proxy. 
The board of trustees has been enlarged to twenty-seven members, and 
the new board, it is believed, fairly represents nearly all sections of 
this country and Canada. The closer co-operation of all institutions 
of learning is now actively encouraged. 
These changes will make possible the attendance of a large number 
of members at annual and special meetings, who have been unable to 
reach Boston during the month of November, and there are already 
signs of increasing interest in the institution over a much wider area. 
The members will be glad to learn that, at the recent meeting of the 
British Association in Toronto, Dr. Dohrn, Director of the unrivalled 
station at Naples, took occasion to speak as from personal knowledge in 
terms of warm commendation of the work at Woods Holl. The past 
summer has been highly satisfactory ; but the trustees have been ham- 
pered by lack of funds for needed repairs and renewals, and, to some 
extent, for current expenses. At least $1,000 should be raised before 
resuming work next summer, and there remains a debt of about $4,700 
incurred for the erection of new buildings. This debt should be can- 
celled in order that a clear balance sheet may be shown before under- 
taking several most desirable extensions of the plant, some of which 
are urgently needed. Salaries should be increased and greater induce- 
ments offered to the strong corps of instructnrs and workers, whose 
collaboration has enabled the institution to attain its present position 
in the scientific world. Moreover, there is no assurance of permanence 
in an institution of this nature, until it shall have acquired a sufficient 
endowment or maintenance fund, independent of its land, buildings 
and equipments (which now represents an investment of over $33,000), 
to relieve it from danger of extinction by one or more seasons of small 
attendance. The endowment fund now amounts to over $3,500, and 
has been carefully husbanded ; but it should be increased to at least 
$50,000, and the special funds, the Lucretia Crocker Fund for scholar- 
ships and the library fund, may profitably be added to. 
One effect of the recent changes in the by-laws will be, or may be, 
to diminish the special interest in and sense of responsibility for the 
laboratory heretofore shown in the city of Boston and its immediate 
