16 



THE FAMILY AQUARIUM. 



bled to engage the services of the two principal naturalists 

 who had organized and developed the celebrated Aquaria 

 of the Royal Society. This was a triumph ; but the next 

 step was to endeavor to obtain a supply of, or learn how 

 to manufacture, perfect glass tanks. This proved to be. 

 an exceedingly delicate and difficult operation. But one 

 chemist had yet been successful in the composition of a 

 cement thoroughly calculated to resist the action of salt 

 water. He had no leisure to furnish tanks for exporta- 

 tion, and was unwilling, of course, to impart to others his 

 original discovery. To this gentleman, however, Mr. Bar- 

 num repaired and, after a liberal outlay, finally possessed 

 himself of the critical secret. With this precious piece 

 of knowledge, and several workmen who had for the pre- 

 vious three years devoted their skill and iagenuity to the 

 construction of these crystal tanks in all their faultlessness, 

 he hurried back to New York. 



The result is patent to the world. The Grand Aquaria 

 at the American (Barnum's) Museum, New York, has no 

 competitor whatever in the western hemisphere, and is, 

 beyond dispute, the largest, most costly, most complete, 

 and most elegant production of the kind on the face of 

 the globe ! It is not yet, however, what we may expect 

 to find it when, in a few short months, the inestimable 

 specimens of zoophyte, anemone, etc., shall have arrived 

 that have been selected in Asia, Africa, and South Amer- 

 ica, and assume their place in this peerless collec- 

 tion. 



