Further witness, also, it can bear to the innu- 

 merable cloistered hours I have spent — alone, in- 

 deed, yet not lonely — in its plain but pleasing 

 precincts, watching with sheer rapture some crea- 

 ture of my tanks as it exhibited certain unsus- 

 pected traits of habit or behavior; or, it may be, 

 held with breathless awe at the microscope, glimps- 

 ing phases in the development of spore or egg or 

 larva, phases which seemingly had been to me a 

 deep forbidden secret. The truth is, the many long, 

 though happy, vigils here maintained, have en- 

 deared it to me forever. 



But what would the associations of this homely 

 room hold for me without its heterogeneous fur- 

 nishings, many of which are homelier still! The 

 equipment is quite democratic, if I may so express 

 myself. Here the plebeian broken half-bottle serv- 

 ing as a tank, with its colony of attached hydroids, 

 just as it was found in the shore waters, is on equal 

 terms — in interest, at least— with its larger, rec- 

 tangular, imported plate-glass shelf-companion. 

 Likewise, on the long work-bench before the row 

 of large windows flooded with light on sunny days, 

 finger-bowls, soup tureens, and other household 



[11] 



