EDITOR'S TABLE. 



n 



themselves with forms of life hitherto 

 inaccessible and known chiefly in books, 

 the aquarium is invaluable, and will be 

 a great help in promoting the work of 

 science. The museum shows us dead 

 specimens, stuffed, dried, and variously- 

 preserved, and is of course not without 

 interest. But the aquarium opens to 

 us the living, moving curiosities and 

 wonders that are nowhere else to be 

 seen. What the menagerie is to the 

 creatures of the forest, the desert, and 

 the prairie, the aquarium is to the 

 tenants of the lake, the river, and the 

 ocean. But, while land-animals have 

 long been captured and collected for 

 inspection, the aquarium is a new and 

 recent affair, involving great difficulties 

 in its successful management. These 

 difficulties can only be overcome at large 

 expense, by persevering experience, and 

 through special and thorough knowl- 

 edge of the conditions of life of an im- 

 mense variety of aquatic creatures. The 

 opportunity such an establishment opens 

 to the scientific observer, investigator, 

 and experimenter, should be highly 

 prized, and we have no doubt it will 

 be well appreciated by this clas3 of 

 students. 



In an educational point of view, or 

 as a means of popular instruction, a well- 

 stocked aquarium cannot fail to be of 

 the highest value. Natural history is a 

 growing subject in our schools, but is 

 so generally pursued merely from text- 

 books which give no real knowledge, 

 that a great available museum of living 

 objects is precisely what is wanted to 

 give reality and efficiency to this branch 

 of study. The New York Aquarium 

 should be brought into very close rela- 

 tions with the common-school system 

 of the city. We are glad to observe 

 that this element of its usefulness has 

 not been overlooked in the plan and 

 management of the enterprise. Pro- 

 visions for study, instruction, and sys- 

 tematic observation have been incor- 

 porated with it, and this feature has 

 been held so important as to be placed 



in special charge of a cultivated natu- 

 ralist. Mr. W. S. Ward, who has been 

 abroad this season and visited the chief 

 aquariums of Europe, with a view of 

 acquiring information that will be valu- 

 able to the scientific management, will 

 devote himself to the educational ser- 

 vice of the institution. 



It is a noteworthy fact that we are 

 indebted for the New York Aquarium 

 entirely to private enterprise. There 

 was talk that the city would establish 

 something of the kind in the Central 

 Park ; but it came to nothing, and, after 

 the municipal fizzle over the fossil resto- 

 rations undertaken by Mr. Waterhouse 

 Hawkins, we may conclude that it was 

 perhaps best that the city did not un- 

 dertake this work. But what it was 

 unable or disinclined to do has been 

 projected and carried out by the per- 

 severing enterprise of Mr. W. C. Coup, 

 who has devoted his energy to its or- 

 ganization, and risked his money upon 

 his chance of success. The aquarium 

 is an honor to this metropolis and 

 promises a large benefit to the public, 

 and it should be liberally patronized 

 and well sustained. We have no doubt 

 it will meet from all classes with the 

 encouragement it certainly deserves. 



A CASE I2T MENTAL PHYSIOLOGY, 



An account comes to us of an enter- 

 prising Englishwoman who was equal to 

 the following exploits in sharp prac- 

 tice : ' By a series of the most extraor- 

 dinary misrepresentations and cleverly 

 carried out impostures, she raised large 

 sums of money on no security whatev- 

 er, and spent them as recklessly; im- 

 posed on jewelers so that they trusted 

 her with goods worth many hundreds 

 of pounds ; furnished grand houses en- 

 tirely at the expense of trusting uphol- 

 sterers ; introduced herself by sheer im- 

 pudence to one great nobleman after 

 another, and then introduced her dupes, 

 who, on the faith of those distinguished 



