A Bibliography usually undertakes to present a general outline of the 

 literature on a subject, and to especially include the sources from which 

 the author has drawn. No such attempt is made here. Except for a few 

 of the early outstanding classics on aquarium study we mention only 

 works, which, in our opinion, are likely to be of interest to our readers, 

 and which there is a reasonable chance of procuring. 



European interest in the aquarium had a sudden awakening in about 

 1850, and for some years a flood of books followed. These were much 

 alike and naturally were written out of a considerable inexperience. One 

 of those authors (Arthur M. Edwards in "Life Beneath the Waters," 

 New York, 1858) in setting forth his standing as a competent authority 

 submits the fact that he has kept an aquarium for two years! Pages 91 

 and 92 contain statements too interesting to pass by unquoted: 



"Sixty degrees of Fahrenheit's scale is about as high as we should 

 allow the aquarium temperature to rise." If in danger of passing this 

 point it is recommended to "wrap the aquarium in coarse cloth, kept 

 saturated with water." As to white fungus disease, which seems to have 

 been known as "the slime," the author directs that the fish be placed 

 in "a pail full of fresh water and throw over it a handfull of silver sand, 

 so that it may fall on the skin of the fish. It will cause it to rub itself 

 and entirely eradicate the slime without injurying the fish," followed 

 by the fatal admission "I have lost many gold-fish from this disease." 

 Again we are told "Sometimes the tail becomes coated with a fungoid 

 growth. The tail should be removed at once with a pair of fine scissors." 



On the other hand Robert Warrington, an Englishman, as far back 

 as 1850 set forth, in papers before The Chemistry Society and in the 

 "Annals and Magazine of Natural History," the correct principles of the 

 "balanced aquarium." 



Aquarium keeping at that period seems to have been more of a fad 

 than a hobby, and, with its passing, the tide of books subsided considera- 

 bly. The subject of course continued to develop among scientific in- 

 vestigators, but the literature experienced no great advance until towards 

 the close of the century, coincident with the importation of tropical fishes 

 and highly developed gold-fishes. Innumerable aquarium societies sprung 

 up in Europe, especially in Germany, and it is to their support and in- 

 fluence that we owe much of our modern literature on the subject. 



