348 THE LIFE OF PHILIP HENRY GOSSE. 



*' a moment against the sky, as they shoot out to seaward. 

 *' The moths are playing round the tops of the budding 

 "trees; the screaming swifts begin to disappear; the 

 "stars are coming out all over the sky, and the moon, 

 " that a short time before looked like a thread of silver, 

 ''now resembles a bright and golden bow, and night 

 "shuts up for the present the book of nature." 

 In the obituary notice of my father published, in 1889, 

 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, it is remarked by 

 ^the author, Mr. H. B. Brady, that he was " not only a 

 many-sided and experienced naturalist, but one who did 

 more than all his scientific contemporaries to popularize 

 the study of natural objects." Until his day very little 

 indeed was generally known on the subject of marine 

 zoology. The existing works on these lower forms, ex- 

 ceedingly limited and imperfect as they were, gave little 

 or no impression of the living condition of these creatures 

 in their native waters. It was Philip Gosse's function to 

 take the public to the edge of the great tidal pools, and 

 bid them gaze down for themselves upon all the miraculous 

 animal and vegetable beauty that waved and fluttered there. 

 In doing this, he was immensely aided by his own inven- 

 tion of the aquarium, which was instantly accepted by 

 naturalists and amateurs alike, and became to the one a 

 portable studio of biology, to the others a charming and 

 fashionable toy. 



The volumes of Punch for thirty-five years ago reflect 

 the sudden popularity of this invention ; and, in addition 

 to the innumerable private vivaria, large public tanks, 

 fitted up in accordance with Philip Gosse's prescriptions, 

 were started all over Europe. The late Mr. W. Alford 

 Lloyd, whose affectionate devotion to my father deserves 

 the warmest recognition, was the agent in whose hands 

 the practical development of the scheme spread to the 



