690 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, " 



audience, and another will follow on every Friday afternoon during 

 the summer. 



One of the largest and most successful aquaria anywhere is that at 

 Brighton, England. It is a private enterprise, and of very recent 

 origin. It was originated by Mr. Edward Birch, an English engineer 

 of note, who organized a stock company with a capital of $400,000. 

 The work of construction was begun in 1869, and the building was 

 formally thrown open to the public in August, 1872. The building 

 stands upon the sea-beach, in front of the Marine Parade, its roof 

 being a little below the level of that promenade. It has a total length 

 of 715 feet, with a width of 100 feet. The interior is divided into two 

 corridors, on either side of which stand the tanks containing the fish. 

 The dominant style of architecture is the Italian, and highly ornate. 

 The roof of the corridors is arched and groined, " constructed of varie- 

 gated bricks, and supported on columns of Bath stone, polished ser- 

 pentine marble, and Aberdeen granite. The capital of each column is 

 elaborately carved in some appropriate marine device, while the floor, 

 in correspondence, is laid out in acrostic tiles." The tanks number 

 forty-one. Their fronts are made of plate-glass, one inch thick, divided 

 into sheets three feet wide and six feet high, supported by upright iron 

 mullions. At the eastern end of the west or main corridor is a fernery, 

 with rock-work and cascade. Many of the tanks are also supplied 

 with ornamental rock-work. For the accommodation of visitors there 

 are a restaurant, dining-hall, and reading-room, in the building. The 

 smallest tank measures 11 feet long by 10 broad, and contains about 

 4,000 gallons of water, while the largest measures 130 feet long, 30 

 broad, and holds 110,000 gallons. The latter is large enough to ac- 

 commodate a small whale. At present, however, it contains only a 

 porpoise, a few dog-fish, a ray, and several turtle. Six tanks are de- 

 voted to fresh- water animals, the rest to marine. The water of the 

 latter is pumped up from the sea by steam when needed, but is never 

 changed in any of the tanks except when required by turbidity, or any 

 accident, such as the cracking of a front. To secure abundant aeration 

 each tank is supplied with several vulcanite tubes, entering at the top 

 and descending to the bottom. An air-pump, situated at one end of 

 the building, and worked by steam, forces a stream of air into the 

 tank through each tube. The result is, a constant bubbling up of the 

 water. This plan, however, does not seem to be as desirable or efficient 

 as the circulatory system maintained at the Crystal Palace Aquarium. 

 This consists in merely pumping the water by steam up to a higher 

 level, and allowing it to return, by force of gravity, through the 

 tanks to the reservoir beneath. In its course it takes up a greater 

 amount of oxygen than can be otherwise imparted to it, and at the 

 same time acquires great clearness and brilliancy. 



The best kind of vessel for a small aquarium is an oblong tank 

 made of slate, with a glass front. Glass may be used instead of slate, 



