14 the I'KixeirLKS of 



ral history an almost boundless and untravelled f-p:ice, the 

 outskirts of which are the useful and wonderful discoveries 

 that they have given to him during the last lour or five 

 years, and which are so fascinating in all their details, 

 that they attract and rivet the attention not only of sci- 

 entific men, but of those who, until lately, have looked 

 upon the votaries of science as forming a useless class. 

 This revolution has been brought about by the vast strides 

 that science has made during the last twenty years, aided 

 principally by two seemingly insignificant instruments : the 

 Microscope and the AQTAiurir. 



In a lecture given by Mr. Warrington before the Royal 

 Institution of Great Britain, on the 27th of March, 1857, 

 that gentleman gives us a history of the Aquarium, with 

 the reasons that led him to think of establishing such a 

 collection, in which the animal and vegetable existences 

 would be so balanced that the water should not need 

 changing. After considerable trouble and persevering study, 

 and several accidents that would have discouraged many 

 men, he succeeded ; and, in a paper read in the month 

 of March, 1850, before the Chemical Society of London 

 he gave to the world an account of his success. His first 

 experiments were with fresh-water plants ami animals, and 

 on the complete success of the tanks containing these, he 

 commenced operations with marine objects. In this branch, 

 he has been more successful than any other naturalist that 

 has given the results of his experience with the Aquarium. 

 to the public. 



It was in the year 1852, that the Zoological Society 

 o^ London determined to erect a house in their gardens 



