THE FOUNTAIN. 



29 



sponge may be pushed, or a cork drilled with 

 small holes. The cord which suspends the drip- 

 glass passes over a pulley at the top of the win- 

 dow, so as to be raised or lowered at pleasure. 

 Every morning sufficient water from the Tank 

 is drawn or dipped off, to fill the drip-glass, which 

 is then hoisted to its full height. The contents 

 run out in slender steams, or in a rapid succession 

 of drops, which, passing through some four or five 

 feet of air, before they reach the Tank, become 

 effectually purified. 



A convenient mode of aeration is that effected 

 by strongly syringing the water. The instrument 

 should be at least 1^ inch in diameter, and should 

 be raised above the surface at every down-stroke. 

 After a few moments' work, the whole Tank will 

 be quite white with minute bubbles of air, resem- 

 bling the sea when the waves dash and boil among 

 the rocks. 



The same purpose may be more efficiently ac- 

 complished at a slight expense, in a manner which 

 would greatly augment the elegance of the Aqua- 

 rium. In the engraving placed at the commence- 

 ment of this treatise, I have represented a Fountain- 

 Aquarium, — a form of the invention particularly 

 suitable for a conservatory or hall. It needs but a 

 vessel fixed, as a reservoir, at some distance above 

 the level of the Tank, in a higher story for exam- 

 ple, whence a supplying tube may descend, and 

 passing beneath the floor, ascend through the foot 

 of the vase, to the surface of the water. All the 

 visible portion may be easily concealed among the 

 rock- work ; while from the extremity a jet would 

 play, proportioned in force to the weight of the 

 supplying column, or, in other words, to the height 



