6 THE FRESH-WATER AQUARIUM. 
a travelling show containing an asthmatic lion, a seedy 
cockatoo, and a pair of snakes that are hourly stirred up 
with a long pole. Hence such a term could never convey 
the very special idea of a vessel containing such specimens 
as form the stock of the aquarium. When this was felt, the 
affix aqua was added, to convey the idea of the watery 
medium in which the specimens are immersed, and hence 
we had aqua-vivarium, a compound of too clumsy a 
character to remain long in use. It is the water that 
gives the collection its special character ; and water always 
reminds us of old Aquarius, who treats us to an annual 
drenching from his celestial watering-pot. Aquarius 
triumphed, and the pretty prison in which his cool com- 
panions of the sign Pisces were doomed to be confined 
acquired his name; and, since it is better to follow than 
to oppose usage, we leave the philological part of the 
question to the learned, and adopt Aquarium as the name 
of our collection. 
The Object of the Aquarium is to enable us to study the 
economy and derive pleasure from the contemplation of 
various forms of aquatic life, contributed by the lakes, the 
mountain rills, and the ‘‘ resounding sea.” Collections 
of objects that inhabit rivers and lakes are of course called 
Fresh-water aquaria ; those ghat owe their origin to the 
sea are called Marine aquaria. A more simple name for 
the first would be River aquarium, which I humbly 
suggest it shall in future be called. But an aquarium is 
not a mere cabinet of specimens ; it is a water garden in 
which we cultivate choice plants, and it is also in some 
sorta menagerie, in which we see living creatures of 
