Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 39.djvu/585

Rh the university endeavored, at the instigation of the Fish Commission, to discover the young oysters and learn their mode of life. The first effort failed, because the young oyster was looked for between the sheila of its mother, where it was not. Then, in 1879, Prof. Brooks undertook the search on the invitation of the Fish Commissioner for Maryland. Within twenty-four hours of his arrival at Crisfield, he discovered that the American oyster is not nursed within the shell of the parent, but shows an early independence; and that it is possible to take their eggs from oysters and fertilize and rear them artificially, as is done with the eggs of shad and trout. "These two discoveries, based on previous investigation of the development of mollusks which have no commercial importance, made a new starting-point for the study of the oyster. It was impossible to catch and study in continuous development the microscopic, embryonic oysters scattered throughout the Chesapeake Bay; but, once we could hatch the oyster in the laboratory and study its growth and life conditions, a very important step forward would be made. It was proved that we could get young oysters in incalculable numbers at a very small cost, and, far more important, an opportunity to investigate the fife conditions of the young oyster would be given. To carry on the growth of the artificially hatched young oysters a steady supply of fresh sea-water was needed. This the university provided the next year by the purchase of a small steam-engine and a complete outfit for the breeding of young oysters on a small scale." Before the party left Crisfield, in July, 1879, they had established the two leading facts that the eggs of the Maryland oyster are thrown out into the bay to be fertilized at random, and that it is possible to fertilize and hatch thousands of them in a watchglass; in fact, that in a few buckets of seawater one could hatch enough eggs to supply spat for the whole Chesapeake Bay.

Building Homes.—A beaver in captivity, says Chambers's Journal, will build a dam across the kitchen, making it of sticks and brushes, with a charming air of doing the best he can. The nest-building of birds has also a delightful air of contrivance about it. One likes them for the marvels they do with bits of grass and rag and wool. There is human nest-building too; but, considering their resources, the birds are before us in the beauty and utility of their work; while in contrivance the beaver in the story leaves us nowhere. Our house-building corresponds to the nest-building of the birds. It is the preparation of our home: utility and beauty are to be as guiding lines in arranging our plan. Let it be remembered that we are not contriving a furniture mart or a bric-à-brac shop, or even a place on view, but a house to be lived in, every room and part of which is to be made enjoyable. It is greatly a matter of common sense and good taste; these produce better results than the check-book and the complete house-furnisher. The moneyed system results in a mansion complete, from a grand piano down to a cat and a duster. The system of contrivance boasts of having secured all one likes best, and all in good taste. The planners and contrivers are the true nest-builders. After duly considering the whole matter, the writer concludes that "our hints resolve themselves into two principles: arrange the house not by rule or custom, but for the use of each room; and let beauty unite with use in every part."

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology.—The history of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is traced by Mr. Augustus Lowell m a commemorative address on the occasion of its twenty-fifth anniversary, June 3, 1890. It was opened in 1865, under the direction of Prof. W. B. Rogers, with twenty-seven students; it has now, after having suffered a decline in the years following the financial crisis of 1872, more than nine hundred students. A laboratory of general chemistry was introduced almost at the outset. The Rogers Laboratory of Physics, where the student could make observations and conduct measurements for himself, followed soon afterward. In 1871-'72 a scientific expedition of students and instructors went to the Rocky Mountains, and brought back with them from California apparatus for a laboratory of mining and metallurgy—the first proper concern of the kind devoted to purposes of instruction in the world. A laboratory of steam