From
25 to 30 investigators worked at the Laboratory each summer.
Sumner gives an interesting tabulation of the subjects of research
which he more or less arbitrarily classified as follows:
Relations to stimuli, animal behavior, etc. 9
Faunal and floral distribution 7
Taxonomy 6
Embryology 3
Ecology (exclusive of distribution) 2
General physiology(exclusive of behavior) 2
Regeneration 2
Miscellaneous 6
Biological material for research was regularly supplied by dredgings
of the Fish Hawk and Phalarope (fig. 27) and by selecting needed
fish from several traps at Menemsha Bight, and Marthas Vineyard.
Besides two steam launches, a catboat, an abundance of rowboats
were available for short trips. A daily record was kept by Vinal
N. Edwards of the species taken. One of the investigators for
the Bureau was George Parker of Harvard University, who conducted
a study of the lateral line physiology. He used for his purpose
dogfishes, skates, killifish, scup, toadfish, and winter flounder.
One of the conclusions reached was that the lateral line organs
are stimulated by water vibrations of low frequency (six per
second). Interesting observations were made by Lynds Jones on
the food of marine birds. He counter the number of terns, Sterna
hirundo and S. dougalli, nesting at Weepecket, Penikese, and
Muskeget Islands near Woods Hole and calculated the number of
fish they consumed. His results showed that in the course of
one day 92,000 terns ate 736,000 small fish, Ammodytes americanus,
and 184,000 fish of other species. The consumption of food fishes
by terns appeared to be insignificant, and the birds were exonerated
as an important destructive agency.
The principal feature of the work of the Woods Hole Laboratory
undertaken by Sumner was the biological survey of the bottom
animals and plants of Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound. The incentive
for this project was Sumner's desire to use the Fish Hawk
which, as he states, was customarily "parked" at Woods Hole
during the summer. Having started on the project, he and his
associates found themselves deeply involved in the work in which
dredging was made at several hundred stations. The distribution
of about 250 species of animals and plants is shown on many
maps accompanying the report of this survey. Osburn and Cole
collaborated with Sumner in the study of animal populations;
Bradley M. Davis, Professor of Botany at the University of Chicago
and later at the University of Pennsylvania, studied the distribution
of marine algae. Temperature and salinity of the water were
recorded, and all collected material was carefully catalogued.
The completed report on this monumental undertaking was published
in two volumes of the Bulletin of the Bureau of Fisheries (Sumner,
Osburn, and Cole, 1913a, 1913b; Davis, 1913a, 1913b). The survey
contains valuable information on the distribution of various
animals, and to this day remains the main source of information
about marine life at the bottom of the principal bodies of water
near Woods Hole.
Sumner introduced weekly meetings of a "research club" for general
discussion of scientific problems of mutual interest. This practice
has been continued by all his successors.
On Sunday, August 25, 1907, the Laboratory was visited by the
members of the Seventh International Zoological Congress held
in Washington. The group that accepted the Bureau of Fisheries
invitation included 13 scientists from Russia, who were given
overnight accommodations in the residence building of the Laboratory.
The party was carried next day by the members of the Seventh
International Zoological Congress held in Washington. The group
that accepted the Bureau of Fisheries invitation included 12
scientists from Russia, who were given overnight accommodations
in the residence building of the Laboratory. The party was carried
next day by the Fish Hawk to New Bedford, and
one dredging was made en route as a demonstration of the American
technique of oceanic research.
One of the Russian delegates was G.A. Koshewnikow, professor
and Director of the Zoological Museum and Laboratory of the
Imperial Moscow University. Upon his return he told the group
of advanced students, which included the author of this paper,
a glorifying account of the work of the Fisheries Laboratory.
His talk about the research conducted at Woods Hole and the
photographs of the Fisheries Laboratory made a deep impression
on the minds of the young zoologists.
Sumner's acquaintance with Woods Hole covered a period of 14
years. His first visit was in 1897 when he was a graduate student
at Columbia University. In his autobiography Sumner (1945a)
refers to that period as the "Golden Age" of the Woods Hole
colony, when the most insignificant beginner in biology came
into intimate contact with men whom he had long heard cited
as authorities by his professors at college. He describes the
days when the MBL was housed in a few small buildings, when
almost every point on the beach could be reached without "violating
the 'trespass' warning; the automobiles were scarce even in
1911(fig. 28) the pleasure boats and yachts were seldom seen".
In 1903 he received the summer appointment as Director of the
Laboratory at the maximum salary of $100 per month. The laboratory
of the Bureau of Fisheries had at that time much better basic
equipment, larger collecting boats, and more attractive living
quarters than those available at the MBL. Although the MBL lacked
funds for equipment and facilities, it already enjoyed a high
scientific reputation for basic research. In addition to the
survey of Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound, Sumner carried on
a number of investigations, some of which were the continuation
of the experimental embryology of fishes he started at Naples,
Italy. One of them was an experimental study of selection in
fishes, in which he attempted to demonstrate measurable differences
between the survivors and nonsurvivors of killifish, Fundulus,
that were transferred to fresh water. During his spare time
he initiated the low temperature, and their possible transmission
by heredity. This work was a stepping stone to his fundamental
research in genetics, distribution, and evolution of the subspecies
of deer mice Peromyscus carried on in later years at Scripps
Institution at La Jolla, Calif.
In the fall of 1911 he accepted the position of "Naturalist
of the Albatross". For the next two years he was engaged in
a survey of San Francisco Bay, which was a cooperative study
supported by the Bureau of Fisheries and the University of California.
Upon completion of this work he joined the staff of Scripps
Institution for Biological Research, as that institution was
then known (later renamed Scripps Institution of Oceanography).
Sumner's contribution to the biology of fishes includes a valuable
study of adaptive color changes in flatfishes. In later years,
this work was continued and expanded by Mast who was a guest
investigator at the Woods Hole and Beaufort Laboratories of
the Bureau. Sumner's work on oxygen consumption and acclimatization
of fishes greatly advanced our knowledge of the oxygen demand
by various species and provided background information for devising
bioassay tests that are now used to determine the toxicity of
polluted waters. The technique of maintaining living organisms
in aquaria was benefitted by his recommendation to de-aerate
sea water, which sometimes becomes oversaturated with oxygen
during pumping.
Sumner was deeply interested in the philosophy of science, particularly
the relationship between religion and science and in the social
responsibility of scientists (Sumner, 1937, 1939, 1940). One
of his last papers entitled "A biologist reflects upon old age
and death" (Sumner, 1945b) written when he reached "the biblical
milestone of three-score years and ten", shows that the years
did not diminish his reasoning power or his ability to present
his ideas in a lucid and emphatic manner.
One of Sumner's remarks about the scientific method is of particular
significance to those biologists who fail to recognize the true
meaning of the so-called statistical probability. He states
that statistically speaking 'certainty of some differences'
and no presumption in favor of the particular interpretation
which the author gives to that difference". This pertinent remark
by Sumner refers to his own experiments with white mice, made
at the time when the application of statistical analyses to
experimental data was at the early stages of development.
In
1913, H.M. Smith (fig. 29) was appointed Commissioner of the
Bureau of Fisheries. During his administration, which terminated
with his resignation in 1922, he retained his interest in the
Woods Hole Laboratory. He spent many summers at the Laboratory,
escaping from administrative burdens of the Washington office
and continuing to work on fishes. He never ceased to be active
in ichthyological and fisheries research, and his personal contact
with the field employees frequently was helpful to them. In
many respects Smith was a remarkable person. He began his work
in the fishery service in 1886 under Spencer F. Baird, whom
he always held in highest respect as a man and scientist. Upon
graduation from medical school in 888 he was appointed to the
staff of the Medical School of Georgetown University, teaching
anatomy, histology, pathology, and medicine. Increasing interest
in ichthyology and fisheries work compelled him to stay in the
fishery service. His medical training, however, remained very
useful, especially after his resignation from the Government
service in 1922, at that time he began a 12-year residence in
Siam as Expert Advisor in Fisheries to the King of Siam. In
his many trips to the interior of the country he came in close
contact with the people in the dense jungles, and treated many
of them suffering from various tropical diseases. A born naturalist,
with a deep love for study of animal life, Smith loved to come
to Woods Hole where he enjoyed informal meetings with many biologists,
saw many old friends, and was visited by many zoologists coming
to see him from Europe, Siam, Japan, and India.
Dr. and Mrs. Smith occupied a five-room apartment, the so-called
Commissioner's quarters, on the second floor of the residence
building and frequently held receptions for the scientists in
the large sitting and dining rooms of the first floor. This
practice, established by Baird and continued by Commissioner
McDonald, became a regular feature during the ensuing years.
It gave a chance to beginners in science to meet and talk to
the men who had already achieved success and occupied positions
of importance and influence. The affairs, as I remember them,
were informal, simple, gay, but at the same time dignified.
Of small stature, always neatly dressed and speaking with a
soft voice, Smith at Woods Hole seemed to us a different man
from the person we saw occasionally in his imposing office in
Washington. He received wvisitors and employees sitting in a
large black leather chair behind a highly polished mahogany
desk. As an official of high rank, he seemed polite but reserved,
almost to the point of being cold and forbidding. At Woods Hole
he was a different man- a fellow zoologist, with an inner drive
to see nature with his own eyes; a person who loved to go in
a small boat to seine for fishes or to observe the birds, which
he knew as well as fishes and snakes. It was an inspiring experience
to accompany Smith on a collecting trip to Menemsha Bight at
Marthas Vineyard Island. He loved to go collecting there, particularly
in August when south-eastern winds brought in a number of southern
fishes not found around Woods Hole at the other times of the
year. Dressed in an old blue sweater, weather-beaten hat, and
in long rubber boots, and a notebook with pencil stuck into
the right boot leg, he was ready for action (fig.30). He showed
us how to use the small hand seine most effectively. The material
was sorted on the beach right after each haul. The needed specimens
were preserved, and the rest thrown back into the water while
they were still alive. Upon returning to the Laboratory, the
entire afternoon was spent in studying, measuring, sometimes
in dissecting, the morning's catch. Fine points of taxonomy
or structural peculiarities of fish were often explained All
his associates in the Laboratory of Woods Hole soon recognized
the high mental and spiritual qualities that inspired respect
and admiration. This feelings is well expressed in a latter
sent to Smith by one of his subordinates (the Superintendent
of the Woods Hole Station) on the occasion of his resignation.
One sentence of the message reads as follows:
"Here
your visits have been looked forward to with pleasure, I think,
because the MAN was so much larger than the boss, this notwithstanding
the fact that the boss is one of the greatest in his class."
As a Commissioner of Fisheries from 1913 to 1922, Smith on several
occasions defined the role of the Woods Hole Laboratory as a
research arm for the Bureau. In the annual report of the Commissioner
for 1916 (Smith, 1917, p. 45) he wrote: "The Woods Hole, Massachusetts,
Laboratory is intended to serve as a nucleus for investigations
of more direct reference to the New England and Middle Atlantic
fisheries as well as for more technical investigations of general
application. In some respects this establishment is better adapted
for technical studies than any other laboratory of the Bureau,
and it is hoped to improve the facilities for biophysical and
biochemical studies that form essential phases of certain fishery
investigations. The lack of a permanent scientific staff for
this station causes its scientific operations to be confined
largely to the summer season, when temporary professional services
are most readily available." Consequently, the months of June
to the first half of September were the period of greatest scientific
activities. Inasmuch as the new fiscal year in the Government
service begins on July 1 and the passage of the appropriation
bill is frequently delayed, it is impossible to operate the
laboratories on the regular appropriation. On several occasions
the situation became acute; for instance, at the beginning of
the fiscal year 1913 the difficulty is described as follows:
"A number of investigators had already reached the laboratories
before it became apparent that the appropriations would not
be available. Some of these were employed at reduced salaries
and others elected to carry on work under the authority possessed
by the Bureau to afford facilities to properly qualified investigators."
(Smith, 1914, p. 31). The policy with respect to permanent scientific
personnel remained unchanged until the reorganization of the
Bureau after World War II.
