PREFACE. 



ICOKOEIYE it but just to say that, in the following little 

 work, I have indulged in no attempt at scholarly display 

 or literary effect. My object has simply been to prepare a 

 treatise calculated to familiarize the family circle with that 

 "^Tew Pleasure," the Aqtjaeium, in its more domestic form, 

 and to do it in language intelligible to the plainest capacity. 

 If it shall prove that I have been successful, my endeavor 

 will have been accomplished, and the reader somewhat enter- 

 tained and certainly instructed. 



The Aquaeittsi has become, within a short period, almost a 

 necessary luxury in every well-appointed household, both of 

 Europe and i\merica. It has wholly superseded the old 

 fashioned fish-globe in the popular affection. Its neatness 

 and elegance; its fascinating combination of subtle phi- 

 losophy and commonplace every day facts ; its ever- changing, 

 never- wearying feature, of kaleidoscopic novelty ; its tempt- 

 ing peculiarity, to thoughtful minds, as an introduction to the 

 study of nobler and more recondite pages in the volume of 

 natural history ; all constitute an attraction as chaste as it is 

 beautiful, as refined as it is irresistible. 



As the great pioneer of the Aqitaeia in the United States, 

 Barnum's American Museum, in N'ew York, presents, of 

 course, that variety and perfection in the number, quality 

 and surpassing finish, of its specimens in this particular branch 

 of art, which are necessarily due to long experience and fer- 

 tile resources. The tanks constructed there are the handi- 

 work of artificers originally taught and employed at the 

 Gardens of the Royal Zoological Society of London. The 

 ''fitting up," at the Museum, of those tanks (which technical 

 expression includes the materials used to impart to their inte- 

 rior a picturesque effect, and also the artistic taste required 

 to introduce and unite those materials daintily and character- 

 istically), may be termed a classic example in this country, 

 and is a subject of universal imitation. The Museum stock'' 



