Trinity College - Ivy Yearbook (Hartford, CT)

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16 'Tl-IE IVY VOL. XXXIII A Floating Laboratory For the Depawizzwzt of Natzwal History of Trinity College. tg Q OST important study and research in Natural History has AC for some time been devoted to the investigation of the fi f apparently unlimited and infinitely varied animal life of I A 1 1 the ocean. There are several causes which have com- QNQ ' pelled thislstudy of marine forms. V 1. There is a Wide range of animal life in the ocean, which is novv generally believed to have been the original home of all the living things of the earth. 2. The ocean not only affords a wide range of forms, but furnishes them within a smaller area than either the land or fresh water. 3. Problems of embryology, physiology, the distribution of forms. and the relation of organisms to their environment, can be studied upon organisms in the ocean with great economy of material and effort. 4. Not only problems of pure science have been dealt with in this way in recent years but practical and econonic questions have been solved in oyster and lobster culture and the increase of food fishes and sponges 5. In biology much of hope and inspiration for the future are now centered upon the ocean, which is so boundless in the material offered that all that has been done seems scarcely a beginning. The usual way of conducting investigations in the ocean is by stations on the coast where biological students and investigators work in summer time. Such stations are now found at various points in the United States and Europe. The most notable in this country are at Woods Holl, Mass., Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, Beaufort, North Carolina, The Tor- tugas, and Pacific Cfrove, California. Among the most noted deep-sea expeditions are the voyages of the Blake, the Albatross, the Beagle, the Challenger, and the Valdivia, and the records of their investigations and discoveries fill many volumes. Such expeditions have usually been made under the authority and with the financial aid of government. The United States Fish Commission keeps several vessals engaged in this work the year around. T A vessel, equipped with suitable apparatus, moving from place to place in the ocean, would furnish the most favorable facilities for com- parative studies upon marine animals. The advantages of such a floating laboratory are obvious. .-.-.-fxg, Cx bb

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1906 TRINITY COLLEGE 15 The Technical Department. L OR several years the citizens of Hartford and the authori- D u ties-.of 'lrmity College have had under consideration the es- , ' A ., tablishment of technical courses, at the College, in Mechan- Q CT ical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Civil Engi- g if aiu'-' neering. - ' ' The success of many of our graduates in their work in Electrical Engineering demonstrates that in that department we have for some time been able to give a thorough training. Yet a further advance should be made by the specializing of the work and by the appointment of additional instructors. Another building is urgently needed and a more extended course of study. Two years ago the Civil Engineering courses were offered, and, at the last meeting of the Trustees, a professor of Civil Engineering was ap- pointed ivho will devote his entire time and energy to the development of that department. lt is confidently believed that the present complete equipment of surveying instruments will soon be supplemented by the in- stallation of modern testing apparatus. ln Mechanical Engineering the College does not offer much op- portunity, though a small work-shop affords elementary practice to a limited number of students. It is earnestly hoped that this department maybe established without further delay. It is needed in Hartford and for Hartford. The recent move in the city in behalf of trade-schools brings into prominence the need of an advanced school where qualined men may get the sort of training needed by those who are to be leaders in the maintenance of our industrial supremacy. ' The line between technical science and culture studies is practically obliterated. Men no longer recognize it. It is not yet certain whether Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will coalesce. Special loyalty of sentiment growing out of institutional rival- ries may prevent the alliance. But that such a combination should be seriously proposed and considered is an unmistakable evidence of the trend of educational thought. Trinity can teach all things to all men, with profit to all her sons in every walk of life, if she is given the means. Hartford vvants and needs the Technical School. Trinity has already a large part of the essential outnt. How long must we wait for the rest of it? iXJfl

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1906 TRINITY COLLEGE 17 It is proposed, therefore, to raise money among friends of Trinity to buy a strong sea-worthy schooner. Such a vessel, practically as good as new, can be bought second hand for about S2,000. To build one would cost at least S5,ooO. Buying is preferable to chartering and will be cheaper in the long run, because- the schooner must be used every sum- mer, and to charter a fresh vessel every year would involve great trouble a11d waste of valuable time in looking for one, and every year the cost of altering and reiitting for the laboratory would be gone through with anew. A suitable vessel once found and purchased would be equipped with the necessary permanent biological, chemical, physical, and photographic laboratories. She would have on board the best sounding machine, ther- mometers, dredgcs, trawls, tangles, intermediate and surface tow nets, with winding engine and reel for abysmal as well as pelagic and littoral work. 44 ililililil N' C llllllllll PLAN Fon FLOATING LABoRAToRv. Auxiliary schooner proposed by Richard T. Green, Builder, Chelsea, Mass. A. Forecastle and galley tsix berths.l B. Boiler and engine. C. Laboratory and dining room. D. Ten staterooms for investigators and students. X and Y. Masts. DIMENSIONS : Length over all, 92 feet 1 beam, 22 feet 3 inches 1 depth, 11 feet 1 draft, 10 feet. In the early summer the vessel would sail to some sub-tropical island, cast anchor in a protected harbor, and within a few minutes be trans- formed into a stationarv laboratory, fitted for more or less extended em- bryological and physiological research. After a month or more in the sub- tropics the vessel would weigh anchor for the cruise northward, making a harbor every hundred miles or so for the purpose of getting material for comparative studies. Such an opportunity is invaluable to oneawho is making a quantitative study of variation in some species of wide range.