4118 On preserving the Balance 



On preserving the Balance between the Animal and Vegetable 

 Organisms in Sea Water. By Kobert Warington, Esq.* 



In the published notices of my experiments of 1849, to maintain the 

 balance between the animal and vegetable organisms in a confined 

 and limited portion of water, the fact was demonstrated, that, in con- 

 sequence of the natural decay of the vegetation, its subsequent decom- 

 position and the mucus-growth to which it gave rise, this balance 

 could only be sustained for a very short period, but, if another mem- 

 ber were introduced, which would feed upon the decaying vegetation 

 and thus prevent the accumulation of these destructive products — a 

 function most admirably performed by the various species of water- 

 snail — such balance was capable of being continuously maintained 

 without the slightest difficulty ; and I may add, that the experimental 

 proof of this has now been carried on, in a small tank in the heart of 

 London, for the last four years and a half, without any change or dis- 

 turbance of the water ; the loss which takes place by evaporation being 

 made up with rain or distilled water, so as to avoid any great increase 

 of the mineral ingredients originally present. It follows then, as. a 

 natural deduction, from the successful demonstration of these pre- 

 mises, that the same balance should be capable of being established, 

 under analogous circumstances, in sea water. And in a paper pub- 

 lished in January, 1852f, I stated that I was, at that time, "attempting 

 the same kind of arrangement with a confined portion of sea water, 

 employing some of the green sea-weeds for the vegetable member of 

 the circle, and the common periwinkle as the representative of 

 the water- snail." 



The sea water with which the experiments I am about to detail 

 were conducted, was obtained through the medium of one of the 

 oyster-boats at the Billingsgate fish-market, and was taken from the 

 middle of the English Channel. 



My first object was to ascertain the kind of sea-weed best fitted, 

 under ordinary circumstances, for keeping the water clear and sweet, 

 and in a sufficiently oxygenated state to sustain animal life. And 

 here opinions were at variance, for one naturalist friend whom I con- 

 sulted, advised me to employ the Rhodosperms ; another stated that 



* Read at the Hull Meeting of the British Association. Printed in the ' Annals 

 and Magazine of Natural History' for November, 1853, and communicated by the 

 Author for publication in the ' Zoologist.' 



f 'Gardeners' Botanical Magazine and Garden Companion,' Jan. 1852. 



