THE AMERICAN 



MONTHLY 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL 



Vol. IV. 



Boston, November, 1883. 



II. 



Public Aquari.a, 



It is said that when King Henry 

 VI I L inquired of the Abbot of Abing- 

 don what was the depth of the sea, 

 the learned Abbot answered, " A 

 stone's throw, an't please your majes- 

 ty's highness." We could answer the 

 question to-dav with rather more ac- 

 curacy. If we throw a stone overboa-d 

 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 ffve 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 plateaus 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 ade- 

 quate idea of the anemones with their 

 spreading tentacles and delicate colors. 

 Tlie 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 we are familiar 

 with in daily life, that they po.'sess a 

 special interest whenever they are ex- 

 hibited, either living or dead. 



Fop 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 efiforts has been discouraging. 

 Very few pliblic aquaria are now in 

 successful operation. Of these, scarce- 

 Iv half a. dozen are famous. Never- 



theless, the writer isVirmly Convinced, 

 after long considcrafton of \the facts, 

 and a careful study omhe caiises lead- 

 ing to success or lailure, that an 

 aquarium can be estaliished in almost 

 any one of our largeicities, such as 

 New York, Boston, oA Philadelphia, 

 which would be a permanent atlrac- 

 tion, and, if not quite 

 mere business investmej 

 made self-siipporting frc 

 ning. 



At first sight it mav 

 appropriate to the pages 

 gazine, to advocate at lenj 

 which appeals more to 

 general than to those w'. 

 ally engaged in microscopij 

 Yet, viewed broadl)^ from' 

 point of the scientific man, 

 knowledge from every so^ 

 pleasure from every work 

 and who sees in every enter; 

 ing to reveal the handiwork 

 something to educate and el^ 

 fellow man, the subject is not' 

 priate to these pages. 



The venerable naturalist an( 

 tor, the Rev. Henry H. Hig 

 whose earnest labor is largely 

 arrangement of the specinic 

 invertebrates in the free [lul 

 seum of Liverpool — an arrangi 

 which places that museum amonl 

 best in the world for purposes or 

 lie instruction — says : "A specl 

 without a history, or even witlu 

 name, that calls forth a genuinci 

 clamation ' How beautiful !' fulfil 

 noble mission, especially when 

 observer is a child or young. " l\ 

 is the expression of a man wlv 

 devoted the best vears of his lil( 



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 it could be 

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