THE STUDENT'S AQUARIUM. 



II 



mon putty and work % ft), of litharge into it, and use in the 

 same manner as you would set an ordinary window pane, push- 

 ing the glass bedded in the putty as far home as it will go, then 

 fill the corners in the angle from bottom to top with putty, and 

 have four strips of glass about 9 inches long by ]/ 2 inch wide, 

 and press these well on to the putty, — this will give the corners 

 all the strength they require and prevent any leakage there ; 

 this must be done after the sides and ends are set ; the putty 

 in the corners need be no thicker than where your strip of glass 

 will meet each side of the corner piece. You can Japan or 

 paint the outside any way your fancy may dictate. You will 

 doubtless have friends who will advise you to set the glass with 

 red or white lead, but these same friends perhaps do not know 

 that glass will expand or contract according to the tempera- 

 ture, and that red or white lead sets like stone and will allow 

 of no expansion or contraction, consequently when set with 

 lead the first great change in temperature will leave the aqua- 

 rium with a cracked glass, and it would take anyone with the 

 patience of Job to set another in its place, even if they suc- 

 ceeded in getting the lead out, which I think is doubtful. 



But perhaps before going to the trouble and expense of 

 getting an aquarium, you would like to try what success you 

 can have in keeping fish alive without changing the water. 

 Then get a tin dish-pan, a china bowl, or wooden wash-tub, — 

 in fact anything, as I have said before, anything that will hold 

 water ; if for fresh water, it matters not what. Before going 

 any further we will stop and consider what supports life, and 

 after due deliberation we conclude that it is oxygen, air. We 

 find nothing created can exist unless it has a supply of fresh 

 air. Let us take an instance in the subject of aquarial life. 

 We catch a fish : if we place it out of water in a cool spot it 

 will live say 24 hours, — I have had them live longer; place 

 that fish in a bucket of water, he will die in two hours. Why 

 will he die in two hours in a pail of water, which is its natural 



