THE SALT-WATER, OK MARINE AQUARIUM. 85 



very little expense) by those who make it a specialty and a 

 profession. Your personal sacrifice of time and attention is 

 wholly superfluous, except as a matter of entertainment. 

 It is as well, however, to know to what extent the amateur 

 might supply himself with subjects for his future marine con- 

 servatory, if unable to reach those whose resources can be 

 made promptly available, or if disposed to enjoy himself 

 in a ramble as a practical naturalist. An hour or two 

 spent in such an intimate communion will only the better 

 adapt an observant mind for subsequent interviews with 

 Nature on the more limited scale of an Aquarium ; and 

 cannot but gift it with enlarged conceptions of that eter- 

 nal beauty, fitness and order, which preeminently charac- 

 terize the mysterious and fascinating phenomena of which 

 he must become the privileged witness. 



