PUBLIC AQUARIA. 9 
arises. By a few trials at this point, we may succeed, by varying ° 
our mordant or the bath, or both, in getting rid of the trouble, and 
obtaining perfectly correct results. And it is this absolute power 
which the instrument gives of viewing the successive steps of the 
work under a strong light, and with a high power ; and of seeing, 
just at its beginning, anything which causes a blemish, and the 
power further to see when and how the trouble is removed, that 
renders it here most practical.—Zextile Record of America. 
PUBLIC: AQUARIA: 
T is said that when King Henry VIII. inquired of the Abbot of 
Abingdon what was the depth of the sea, the learned Abbot 
answered, ‘A stone’s throw, an’t please your majesty’s highness.” 
We could answer the question to-day with rather more accuracy. 
If we throw a stone overboard in the deep sea, it would take 
half an hour for it to reach the bottom. About 150 miles from 
St. Thomas, the depth is about five miles and a half. The 
topography of the sea-bottom is being very carefully studied, and 
the dredge and trawl are sent down to bring up specimens of 
animal and plant life from the submerged plateaux and valleys. 
Strange and beautiful forms of life are found in the sea, of which 
few persons have any conception. No description can convey an 
adequate idea of the anemones with their spreading tentacles and 
delicate colors. The white coral skeletons in cabinets give no 
hint of the beautiful living creatures that formed it. The forms of 
the animals that live in the water are so strange and varied, and so 
different from anything that we are familiar with in daily life, that 
they possess a special interest whenever they are exhibited, either 
living or dead. 
For this reason many attempts have been made to establish 
large marine public aquaria, where such creatures could be kept 
alive in glass tanks, and studied at leisure. The history of such 
efforts has been discouraging. Very few public aquaria are now in 
successful Gperation. Of these, scarcely half a dozen are famous. 
Nevertheless, the writer is firmly convinced, after long considera- 
tion of the facts, and a careful study of the causes leading to 
success or failure, that an aquarium can be established in almost 
any one of our large cities, such as New York, Boston, or 
Philadelphia, which would be a permanent attraction, and, if not 
quite profitable as a mere business investment, it could be made 
self-supporting from the beginning. 
