seems to me, the greatest value of this institution as an
educational factor in science--as a biological lever of progress--does
not depend so much upon the tangible revelations of fact that have come
out of its laboratories as upon other of its influences. Scientific
ideas, like all other forms of human thought, move more or less in
shoals. Very rarely does a great discovery emanate from an isolated
observer. The man who cannot come in contact with other workers in
kindred lines becomes more or less insular, narrow, and unfitted for
progress. Nowadays, of course, the free communication between different
quarters of the globe takes away somewhat from the insularity of any
quarter, and each scientist everywhere knows something of what the
others are doing, through wide-spread publications. But this can never
altogether take the place of personal contact and the inspirational
communication from man to man. Hence it is that a rendezvous, where all
the men of a craft go from time to time and meet their fellows from all
over the world, has an influence for the advancement of the guild
which is enormous and unequivocal, even though difficult of direct
demonstration.

This feature, then, it seems to me, gives Dr. Dohrn's laboratory its
greatest value as an educational factor, as a moving force in the
biological world. It is true that the new-comer there is likely to be
struck at first with a sense of isolation, and to wonder at the seeming
exclusiveness of the workers, the self-absorption of each and every
one. Outside the management, whom he meets necessarily, no one pays
the slightest attention to him at first, or seems to be aware of his
existence. He is simply assigned to a room or table, told to ask for
what he wants, and left to his own devices. As he walks along the
hallways he sees tacked on the doors the cards of biologists from all
over the world, exposing names with which he has long been familiar.
He understands that the bearers of the names are at work within the
designated rooms, but no one offers to introduce him to them, and
for some time, perhaps, he does not so much as see them, nor would he
recognize them if he did. He feels strange and isolated in the midst of
this stronghold of his profession.

But soon this feeling leaves him. He begins to meet his fellow-workers
casually here and there--in the hallways, at the distributing-tanks, in
the library. There are no formal gatherings, and there are some workers