THE OUTLETS 339 



markets of Geestmunde. There are others elsewhere. 

 One of the largest restaurants in Paris built large aquaria, 

 where the diner had the pleasure of seeing the sole or dab 

 he was about to eat disporting itself in its native element. 

 Such arrangements are too costly to be usual : they belong 

 rather to the laboratory. M. Joseph Jezequel, keeper of 

 the laboratory of zoology at the Sorbonne, has for some 

 time devoted himself to rearing marine animals in 

 aquaria. He has been able to keep the amphioxus alive 

 for three months, other fish for three years, and has ob- 

 tained young sea-urchins born in his tanks. The sea- 

 water he employs does not come direct from the sea ; it 

 is stale water, and is purified by the process of putrefaction 

 itself. 1 



The rapid sketch here given of the fish trade in France 

 and in two great markets, those of Basle and Billingsgate, 

 gives some idea of the importance of the trade in Europe. 



The million tons of fish furnished yearly by the North 

 Sea is dispersed in all directions, fresh, salted, smoked, or 

 preserved. Among the seven riverine countries of the 

 North Sea, Germany still consumes far more than she 

 can produce, in spite of the incessant development of her 

 fisheries. Belgium also has recourse to her neighbours. 

 The great purveyors to the world-market are England and 

 Scotland, Norway, Denmark, and Holland. 



Germany imports more than 120,000 tons of fish 



1 The water of the excellent though wholly unscientific aquarium 

 of the Crystal Palace, now dispersed, was seldom if ever changed. 

 It was very slowly circulated through dark chambers at the back of 

 the tanks, and aerated by jets of water falling from a height. Many 

 of the fish must have lived thirty or forty years. The best aquarium, 

 if not the only one of any scientific value, in the south of England, is 

 attached to the marine laboratory of Plymouth. [TRANS.] 



