NATIONAL ACADEMY BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS — VOL. VII 



inside the mantle cavity of its parent, the young of our oyster 

 swim at large in the open ocean." 



This was the beginning of his many publications and his 

 years of labor on the development and propagation of the 

 oyster. His first paper on "The development of the American 

 oyster" was very favorably received, and was republished in 

 whole or in part in many American and foreign journals. 

 In recognition of the importance of this work, he was 

 awarded a medal by the Societe d'Acclimatation of Paris. In 

 1882 the General Assembly of Maryland established a commis- 

 sion to consider ways and means to "Perpetuate the oyster beds 

 of the Chesapeake," and Doctor Brooks was appointed chair- 

 man of this commission by the governor. The university re- 

 leased him from active duties, in order that he might devote 

 his entire time for eighteen months to the study of the economic 

 aspects of the oyster problem. A laboratory was established 

 at Hampton, Virginia, where experiments were carried out on 

 the propagation of oysters, and extensive surveys of oyster 

 beds were made. The report of this work was published in 

 1884, in a quarto of 183 pages, 7 maps, and 13 plates. The 

 legislature paid little attention to the recommendations of this 

 report, and Doctor Brooks undertook by public lectures and 

 newspaper articles to arouse public interest in the subject. To 

 this end he published in 1891 a popular work on this subject, 

 entitled "The Oyster," which was republished in a second edi- 

 tion in 1905. His absorption in this work was so complete that 

 he talked oysters in season and out of season. The story is 

 current that at a university reception a society woman at- 

 tempted to engage him in small talk ; he listened mutely for a 

 while, and then was heard to say suddenly, and with animation, 

 "Madam, the Maryland oyster is being exterminated." 



Finally, in 1906, the legislature of Maryland passed a law 

 for the protection and propagation of oysters along substan- 

 tially the lines advocated by Doctor Brooks, and the satisfac- 

 tion which he felt in this happy culmination of his long cam- 

 paign was very great. 



A third line of work to which he devoted much attention 

 was the embryology and larval history of the higher Crus- 



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