BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 4G5 



Vol. IT, ]¥©. 30. WashiBagtoii, ©. C. Oct. 1, 1884. 



231.— AKTinCIAIi SEA tVATJKK FOK A<{UABIA/ 



By U. E. HOFFMANN. 



Ill fornier years hardly any salt-uater aquaria were found in inland 

 countries, because the expense and trouble of furnisliing a constant sup- 

 ply of salt water were too great. Ev^en the Berlin aquarium, with its 

 abundant funds, was so far from the nearest sea-coast as to make the 

 supply of natural sea- water uncertain, and it suffered from this condi- 

 tion of afiairs. The people of Berlin wittily called this chronic condi- 

 tion of their aquarium its " sea-sickness." Although every new institu- 

 tion has to pass through a period of so-called " children's diseases," this 

 peculiar "sickness" of the Berlin aquarium proved very obstinate, and 

 even threatened the life of the young and tender child whose birth had 

 been hailed with so much joy. The Vienna aquarium had to pass 

 through similar experiences, and the stockholders were obliged to pay 

 dearly for the experiment. As matters stood at the Berlin aquarium, 

 the use of artificial sea- water seemed very desirable; but many a well- 

 l)lanned experiment based on scientific i)rinciples proved a failure ; for, 

 although the component jiarts of sea water are well knov/n, and any 

 chemist can easily prepare it from a receipt, it seemed at first impossi- 

 ble, in a chemical way, to breathe the " breath of God " into our scien- 

 tific sea- water, and to impart to it the secret of true vitality. At last, 

 however, long after the institution had been opened. Dr. Hermes suc- 

 ceeded in solving the problem in a scientific manner, and x)roved in the 

 most incontrovertible way that the maintenance of inland salt-water 

 aquaria was no longer dependent on the nearness of the sea-coast. Dr. 

 Hermes succeeded in satisfying every demand, as regards sea- water, 

 within one week. 



The very bold assertion of the director of the zoophyte aquaria 

 in the zoological garden in Regent's Park, London, that artificial sea- 

 water, even if a chemical analvsis cannot discover the least difference 

 between it and natural sea-water, is never beneficial to animals and 

 plants, has been disproved by the success of the Berlin aquarium. 

 Since we have succeeded in manufacturing artificial sea-water which 

 possesses all the qualities necessary for the life of animals and plants, 

 and which, by the use of suitable apparatus, can be kept fresh for years, 

 nothing prevents inland towns from having sea-water aquaria, which, 

 in many respects, are peculiarly interesting. 



* Ueber Mnslliches Seeivasser fiir Aquarien. From the Deutsche Fischerei-ZeHuiig, voL 

 vii, No. 30 ; Stettin, July 22, 1884. Translated from the German by Herman Jacob- 

 sox. 



Bull. U. S. F. 0., 84 30 



