202 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[November, 



the cause of public instruction. It 

 carries with it, therefore, the weight of 

 experience — experience in the noblest 

 work of life, that of an earnest effort 

 to instruct and elevate mankind. 



A laboring man from the north 

 country, visiting the museum, was 

 struck by the beautiful forms of the 

 madrepore corals, and, calling to his 

 wife, he exclaimed, " They be sea- 

 crystals, all different sorts of crystals 

 as grow in the sea." Had he stopped 

 to read the explanatory cards he would 

 have known tha: they were produced 

 bv the o-rowth of beautiful animals. 

 But it was enough for him- that they 

 were beautiful; and by his sincere 

 appreciation o: that one characteristic, 

 his mind wa? elevated, be it ever so 

 little, above .he plane of sordid ex- 

 istence. 



If skeletois and shells can thus 

 impress the mtutored mind, how much 

 greater mus be the influence of the 

 sioht of the living animals which have 

 mysteriousl/ formed them ! Herein 

 is'the valut of an aquarium as a means 

 of instructon. Tell a child that the 

 shells he plays with were once the 

 houses of living animals, and he will 

 wonder 'hat kind of animals could 

 live in sadi coiled and irregular shells. 

 This is ;a example chosen from our 

 own e-verience. How clearly the 

 writer r members the almost incredu- 

 lity wi.i which he first heard that 

 animal lived in the shells — how could 

 such alarge animal as would fill the 

 interit.' of the shell be held in his 

 hand. crawl in and out through such a 

 small doorway ! The idea that the 

 sheilvas carried about on the animal's 

 back was never thought of. Even 

 no\v>ve might find one of the identical 

 s^e's that so aroused our wonder in 

 the days lang syne. Such are the 

 strnge notions of childhood ; and the 

 ter:her who is most successful is that 

 on who can not only direct the 

 thughts of the young, but also detect 

 th channels through which they are 

 njst likely to run wild. Show the 

 ( ild a living gasteropod, and then all 

 \11 be clear to him ; for he will see 



at a glance how the animals live and 

 move about and eat. So much for an 

 object-lesson from the pond or garden- 

 snail. A simple one, indeed, but 

 perfectly adapted to the needs, as 

 well as to the capabilities, of a child. 

 Not for a child alone, for probably 

 not ten of a dozen older persons the 

 city through could tell where the 

 mouth or the eyes of a snail are 

 located. 



To such persons a well-stocked 

 aquarium would reveal almost a new 

 world of wonders. Who can foresee 

 the influence it would have upon the 

 young and active minds of school 

 children, by causing them to look 

 deeply into the book of nature broadly 

 opened before them, and seek, first for 

 the strange and beautiful, afterward 

 for the origin and reason and signifi- 

 cance of it all ! Everyone knows how 

 people flock to a menagerie or zoologi- 

 cal garden when there is a curious or 

 unfamiliar animal to be seen. An 

 unwieldly hippopotamus, or an ugly, 

 ferocious, beast of any kind, will be 

 sure to attract hundreds of persons. 

 If people retain their interest in wild 

 animals after having seen them many 

 times, how much more must they find 

 to interest them among the varied in- 

 habitants of the ocean ! 



To the naturalist, a large and pro- 

 perly conducted aquarium would be of 

 great assistance. Few persons are 

 aware of the many valuable scientific 

 observations already derived from 

 studies at large aquaria, to say nothing 

 of the great amount of work now in 

 progress at sea-side laboratories, 

 which does ' not now concern us. 

 From a scientific stand-point, public 

 aquaria are deserving of support. I 

 think it was Prof. Edward Forbes who 

 once wrote : " The naturalist whose 

 acquaintance is confined to preserved 

 specimens in a cabinet can form but a 

 vague idea of the glorious variety of 

 Nature, of the wisdom displayed in 

 the building up of the atoms of matter 

 to be the houses of life and intellect." 



To take another view of the matter, 

 some allusion mav be made to what 



