ORIGINAL AQUARIA. II 



work on 'The Powers of the Creator displayed in 

 the Creation/ and in his 'Rare and Remarkable 

 Animals of Scotland,' and who kept many of the 

 animals alive whilst he was observing on or experi- 

 menting with them, did so by constantly changing 

 the sea water in which they were kept. One of the 

 most wonderful things in a modern aquarium, to a 

 person ignorant of natural history, is that the sea and 

 fresh water never want changing. Such people have 

 not yet learned that the dry land of the entire globe 

 is only one huge vivarium, and that the Atlantic and 

 Pacific oceans, as well as all rivers and lakes, are 

 likewise only immense natural aquaria. This well- 

 being of terrestial and aquatic plants and animals is 

 kept up and perpetuated without changing either the 

 air or water. What naturalists strive after is, to re- 

 present these natural conditions as much as possible. 

 One of the first notices we have of the establish- 

 ment of aquaria on the modern basis of adjusting 

 animal and vegetable life, is that of Bordeaux, com- 

 menced by M. de Moulins, in 1830. This naturalist 

 found that by keeping plants in the water where his 

 fish and mollusca were, the latter were stronger and 

 healthier for it. But the question shortly afterwards 

 assumed a thoroughly scientific foundation, although 

 the cautious way in which conclusions which now 

 seem to us self-evident, were approached, may appear 

 ludicrous. They were accepted, however, in the true 

 spirit of scientific research, which ought not to take 



