April, 1880. 
THE CHEMIST AND DRUGGIST. 
95 
MY FIRST AQUARIUM. 
The following interesting letter addressed to the Australasian 
on “ My First Aquarium,” by Mr. C. A. Atkin, will repay 
perusal : — 
I had hoped, from what I have seen recently in the columns 
of your contemporaries, that the weakness to which I plead 
guilty, under the above heading, was about to assume some 
public and practical form in the land of my adoption. The 
pre-occupations of business, and the political excitement of 
the period, as well as the ephemeral attractions of older 
established sources of amusement, are, doubtless, amongst the 
causes which have retarded the progress here of an institution 
of such rapid growth and permanent interest as the “ Aqua- 
rium” has proved at home. Be that as it may, however, I 
have found time, during the recent holidays, to indulge to a 
greater extent than usual in the weakness alluded to, and if I 
felt that I had been guilty of an extravagance, or that you 
were likely to incur loss by publishing the fact, I should point 
to the noble institutions which are being rapidly reared for the 
same object, under the title of “Aquaria,” in every part of the 
civilised world excepting Australia. 
“ One of the greatest beauties of the study of Nature is 
generally considered to reside in the brotherly feeling it estab- 
lishes between men of all nations, of all ages, of all ranks” — 
are the words I find recorded in the works of a distinguished 
naturalist who has just passed away from us (the late Count 
de Castelnau), and few would gainsay that assertion. 
But to proceed with my narrative. Some eighteen years ago, 
after seven spent in this country, I determined to revisit dear 
old England, and amonst the many lovely spots which invited 
my attention, Tiverton, in Devonshire, engrossed a special 
share. There I made the acquaintance of Mr. D ; and in 
one of the recesses formed by the bay windows of his draw- 
ingroom I saw, for the first time, an aquarium. 
It was, of course, a miniature one, and occupied a neatly- 
designed stand, advantageously placed for the reception of 
the sun’s rays, on which so much of the vitality of its inmates 
depended. The latter, I found, consisted of gold and silver 
fish, dace, minnows, &c., which disported themselves amongst 
numerous aquatic plants evidently thoroughly acclimatised, as 
some of them were in flower, although my friend assured me 
the water had not been changed for many months, nor would 
such a precautionary measure be requisite for some length of 
time to come, unless an accident occurred. 
On the chimneypiece of the room we occupied there were 
several upright vases, containing distinct varieties of water 
beetles, and in each vase was a specimen of the Vallisneria 
spiralis growing in full vigour ; so that, taken altogether, the 
scene, to which I had before been a complete stranger, was 
replete with objects of beauty and interest, so much so, that I 
at once determined to become the proprietor of a like attrac- 
tive collection, to take back with me and show to my friends 
in Australia. 
Innocently enough, therefore, I asked my friend where such 
a collection could be purchased. “ Oh !” said he, “ it is home- 
made ; I and my two boys caught most of the specimens of 
fish and beetles, and we also gathered the water plants from 
the brooks running through the fields you see around us !” 
From that date my enthusiasm (which some, no doubt, 
regarded as a mild form of mania) in the matter of the 
aquarium took its departure. I dreamt and talked about what 
I had seen at my friend’s house, and determined, if possible, 
to construct and possess a similar collection on my return to 
Australia. 
The following brief resume of my subsequent proceedings 
will show how far I succeeded ; and I will only add, for the 
encouragement of others, that it has proved a cheap and 
never-failing source of instruction and amusement both to 
myself and friends. 
My first ambition was to purchase some goldfish to bring 
back with me to this country, for the date I speak of was, if I 
mistake not, antecedent to Mr. Geo. Coppin’s notion of accli- 
matising these golden household pets in Australia ; at any 
rate, I was not aware of their existence here. On addressing 
myself, however, to one of the dealers in goldfish in London 
he so disheartened me as to my chances of being able to land 
them alive that I abandoned the idea and resolved to trust to 
the. River Yarra and the Melbourne swamp for the stock of my 
projected aquarium. 
My Devonshire friend had impressed upon me the importance 
of first establishing the growth of plants before putting the 
fish into the aquarium, and I afterwards discovered the im- 
portance of this, both as regards fresh and salt water col- 
lections. 
Soon after my return to Melbourne I commenced operations 
by paying a visit to the Royal Park, where, at that time, there 
existed two or three large water-holes, close to the side of the 
“ camel-house,” which was erected on that memorable occa- 
sion in the history of Australia when the Burke and Wills 
exploration expedition left Melbourne, and succeeded in 
crossing the continent as far as Cooper’s Creek. 
I found all I wanted for a start in one of these water-holes — 
aquatic plants, beetles, tadpoles, and water-snails. 
First, I brought home the plants, then procured some sand, 
which I well washed, afterwards cleared all the soil from the 
roots of the plants, and bedded them firmly into the sand ; 
then, having filled my tank three parts full with water, I 
allowed it to remain quiescent for a week or two in order that 
the plants might become established in their new home. 
I next made a small hand-net of muslin and cane, and soon 
caught sufficient specimens to stock my first acquarium. 
The tadpoles proved very interesting objects indeed. They 
had been in my possession some weeks, when first one and 
then another of them began to develop into the frog. This 
wonderful transformation scene may be thus described. First, 
the two fore feet were visible, then the hind ones, and, last of 
all, the tail, which, after a time, became absorbed, as it were, 
into the body, when the transformation was complete. At 
this stage they should be taken out of the acquarium, or a 
piece of cork or wood, to serve as a raft, should be put into the 
tank for them to rest upon, otherwise they will drown. 
It was remarkable how few of my friends had ever seen a 
tadpole before, much less noticed the creature when in this 
transition state, and their undisguised astonishment quite 
repaid me for all the trouble I had taken up to this time. It 
also stimulated my desire to show them something more 
indicative of the obligation under which my Devonshire 
friend’s kindness had placed me, and encouraged me to prose- 
cute my studies in this direction with fresh vigour and enter- 
prise. 
About this time I discovered that a feud existed between 
the beetles and the tadpoles, to such an extent that I was 
obliged to separate them, or the voracity of the former 
creatures would soon have exterminated the tadpoles. My 
next ambition was directed towards obtaining a supply of fish 
and a larger aquarium. With the simple appliances of a 
hand-net and fish kettle, I strolled out towards the Melbourne 
Swamp, where I was amply rewarded for my trouble by a 
variety of fish, and an amelioration in the class of plants, 
larvae, &c. 
( To be continued . ) 
|EegaI anb Jftagisterial. 
An attempt to commit suicide by poisoning was made on 
16th April by a young girl of Italian parentage, named 
Clementina Alessio, only seventeen years of age, residing at 
42 Queen sberry-street, Carlton. It appears that she asked a 
lad to buy some laudanum, of which she took, it is thought, 
about an ounce. She was brought to the Melbourne Hospital 
in an insensible state, and upon the necessary remedies being 
employed for about an hour by Mr. Newman, resident 
physician, consciousness returned, and she was progressing 
favourably. It is supposed that disappointment in a love 
affair was the cause of the attempt. 
What would appear to be an attempt to commit suicide in a 
determined manner was made on the 16th April by a man 
named Alfred Sayers, aged forty-five years, a resident of 
Station-street, Richmond. It appears that he deliberately 
swallowed nearly an ounce of nitric acid, as he states, by 
mistake, under the impression that he was taking a cooling 
drink, but as his friends surmise, with the intention of taking 
his life. He was promptly removed to the Melbourne 
Hospital, where he was, although in a very precarious condi- 
tion, progressing favourably towards recovery. 
A most determined attempt to commit suicide was made on 
the evening of the 14th April by a married woman named 
Ann Kelly, aged thirty years, a resident of Princes-street, 
Fitzroy. For some reason which could not be ascertained she 
swallowed nearly an ounce of laudanum, and was almost in 
articulo mortis when the police, having been summoned, 
arrived at her house, and hurried her off to the hospital. 
