tanks, within the walls of the laboratory. It enabled the living organisms to be studied almost in their native haunts by the most refined laboratory methods.
Thirty years ago the biological station was almost unknown; now there are, I suppose, about fifty or possibly more, large and small, scattered along the shores of the civilized world from the arctic circle to the tropics and Australia, from western California to far Japan in the East—and of these the parent institution, and by far the finest and most important, is the world-renowned 'Stazione Zoologica,' under the direction of Dr. Anton Dohrn, at Naples.
It is almost impossible to think of the Naples station apart from Anton Dohrn. He is the founder, benefactor, director, the center of
all its activities, the source of its inspiration. He established the first building in 1872, and, although he has had support from the German and Italian Governments and from scientific institutions all over the world, still I believe it is no secret that his own private fortune used unsparingly has contributed much to the permanence and success of the undertaking. He has fostered and directed it continuously for nearly thirty years: the twenty-fifth anniversary of the foundation was celebrated on the 14th of April, 1897, by a remarkable memorial in which all the leading biologists of the world were united.
The international character of the institution is a most interesting and important feature. Situated in the south of Italy, founded and
