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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 


THE CARE OF THE PARLOR 
AQUARIUM. 
We know of nothing more likely to 
stimulate the mind to healthy exertion, 
and take it out of the immediate track 
of common interests and pleasures, the 
monotony of which is so oppressive, 
than the study of natural history in 
some of its least explored fields, espe- 
cially its extraordinary development in 
connection with the aquarium. And 
yet how few there are who seek that 
charming mode of dissipating the 
dreary monotony of every-day life, such 
as it is made by the routine of fashion 
or habit ! A popular love of natural his- 
“tory, even in its best known divisions, 
is, in fact, of quite recent date. Indeed, 
the very existence of such a science has 
been, till recently, altogether ignored 
by our great national seats of learning. 
The earnest investigators, who have 
done so much to lay bare its wonders, 
were either ridiculed or treated with 
but small respect—as useless dreamers 
upon very small and insignificant mat- 
ters. ‘To appreciate Nature, as well as 
Art, the mind requires a special educa- 
tion, without which the eye and the 
ear perceive but little of the miracles 
passing before them. Each department 
of science requires a separate and dis- 
tinct kind of sight. Those who cannot 
see Nature, who cannot see more thana 
** funny thing” in a little polywog are 
like one gazing at a carved Egyptian 
record, who perceives, in the hiero- 
glyphic character, simply the sculp- 
tured figure of a polywog, and no more 
—they are in a state of Egyptian dark- 
ness as regards one of the highest and 
most enchanting fields of human re- 
search. 
When, however, the language of 
Nature is learned, and her voice is no 
longer a confused murmur to the ear, 
but becomes a brilliant series of elo- 
quent words, full of deep and exquisite 
meaning, then the student will see as 
well as hear ; but till then, in his inter- 
course with nature, he is both deaf and 
blind, ‘* Speak,” said Socrates to a 
youth; ‘* say something, that I may see 
you.” Socrates saw not a silent man ; 
and those who do not hear and under- 
stand Nature’s language cannot see her 
wondrous beauty. 
The aquarium has been at all times 
and in all ages a source of information 
and amusement for the cultured and 
rich. Already, thousands of years ago, 
