RIVER GARDENS; 
the result of accident rather than scientific experi¬ 
ment, as neither the establishment of Aquaria nor 
the illustration of the principles announced by 
Priestley and Ingenhauss were sought, when it was 
first found that fish would live longer and more 
healthily in vessels in which aquatic plants were 
growing, and also that the water, under such con¬ 
ditions, remained clear without artificial aeration, 
or the addition of fresh water. 
Nevertheless, it is interesting to know who were 
the ingenious and philosophical experimentalists 
who first, while in pursuit of other results, became 
the means of demonstrating that a miniature “lake” 
or “ocean” could he constructed in a glass tank little 
more than a foot square, exhibiting the plants and 
animals peculiar to each, all maintaining themselves 
in a healthy condition, as in real lakes or oceans, 
without any further care being bestowed upon the 
little world after its first creation. 
Mr. Ward, in 1837, threw out, incidentally, the 
first practical hints towards the formation of glass 
vessels, whether for terrestrial or aquatic plants, in 
describing the success of his attempts to grow ferns 
in closed glass cases. Dr. Johnston, in 1842, 
proved that sea water containing marine Algae in a 
growing state, would remain pure for almost any 
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