11 



the building, to be used as a library and a private laboratory for 

 myself. The unit adopted for the working space of each indi- 

 vidual has been slightly increased in the new room, and as now 

 planned it will be a simple proposition to erect a new Laboratory 

 for general purposes and for special investigation by adopting 

 the dimensions now in use for each table. 



As it has gradually become apparent that each institution will 

 eventually wish to control its own Marine Laboratory, and that 

 no co-operation is possible between the different Universities, 

 it has occurred to me that some expansion of the Newport Ma- 

 rine Laboratory might meet the demands of Harvard University. 

 I would here say that various attempts have been made at such 

 co-operation without success. At the time the Anderson School 

 was abandoned, an appeal was made to the Colleges through- 

 out the country to establish a central zoological station, but it 

 received no encouragement. A second attempt was made, in 

 connection with the late Professor Baird, to interest the Natural 

 History departments of the larger Universities in supporting a 

 laboratory for research at Wood's Holl in connection with that of 

 the Fish Commission. This likewise failed. Since then the inde- 

 pendent action of the Johns Hopkins University, of the Univer- 

 sity of Pennsylvania, of the University of California, of the 

 Leland Stanford Jr. University, and of others, confirms the im- 

 pression that every such institution is to have its own establish- 

 ment for modern zoological research. 



But if a central laboratory is no longer to be thought of, it may 

 be practicable to form an international association of marine lab- 

 oratories, the members of which will exchange the facilities each 

 may possess, so that all may share in the advantages of position 

 as regards special opportunities for investigation at the different 

 stations. Or it might be that with the help of such joint action 

 an association might be formed for the establishment of a marine 

 laboratory within the tropics in the vicinity of a coral reef. 

 While many such schemes loom up as possibilities, in view of the 

 increased interest in this kind of research, the more immediate 

 and important question is whether Harvard, like other Univer- 

 sities, shall have a marine laboratory to facilitate the research of 

 her own students. 



Towards this something might be done in the near neighbor- 

 hood of my own laboratory at Newport, if the necessary means 



