Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 41.djvu/628

610 instruction had been almost the sole function, and no provision was made for investigation. In the new institution research was to be made prominent. At Annisquam scarce twenty students could be accommodated; its successor must provide for at least fifty. Naturally, the question of situation was a serious one. Not a single place on the whole Atlantic coast, from Eastport to Newport, fulfilled all requirements; but Woods Holl seemed the best of all, and hence the result already indicated.

Money was raised, land near the Fish Commission building was purchased, and a two-story building twenty-nine by sixty-three and a half feet was erected and equipped in time for the summer session of 1888. This was enlarged two years later by an addition measuring twenty by forty feet; and this spring a new addition is being made, equal in size to the original structure. This affords some evidence of the growth of the laboratory, and of the constantly increasing demands upon it for space. This growth is also shown in another way. In 1888, seventeen enjoyed its facilities; in 1889, there was a jump to forty-four; in 1890, forty-seven; while in 1891 there was another jump to seventy-one. In these numbers are included both pupils and instructors, for all are students. Those who do the teaching are always engaged in investigation, and their researches are carried on in the moments snatched from the pupils proper. In 1888 there were but two instructors; for 1892, eight are announced.

The laboratory has been extremely fortunate in its head. Ever since its organization Professor Charles Otis Whitman, of Clark University—recently appointed to the new Chicago University—has served as Director, and not a little of the success of the laboratory is due to his efforts and his plans for its development. The scope of the work as announced for this summer shows how far the laboratory has advanced along the lines laid down for it.

As already mentioned, two very distinct functions are recognized: the laboratory is at once a center for the advancement and for the diffusion of knowledge; it is a school for teaching and an institute for research; and accordingly the students who annually attend are divided by a distinct line into pupils and investigators. In the first category come those whose acquaintance with Nature and with the methods of finding out her secrets, is slight. Before they can engage in original research they must have a solid foundation of fact, and facility in the use of the naturalist's instruments. So they dissect and study under the microscope a selected series of animals and plants which may exhibit broadly the different types of structure in the living world. In this class, to which the ground-floor of the laboratory