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In the study of marine life the most effective aid is the aquarium. 
Perhaps he is wisest who best studies what is nearest to hand ; 
and he is a poor observer who finds nothing at home. Here, at 
Newport, the richest forms of marine life lie at our feet, and are 
brought to us daily in vegetable and in animal shapes of surpris¬ 
ing beauty. These forms thrown upon our beaches, and, it may 
be, covered with slime, may be only repulsive to us, but if we 
see them in their natural states, in all the glory of hues surpassing 
the colors of land forms, they cannot but please. Even when re¬ 
pulsive, many a person has a curiosity to know their purposes 
and their uses ; but when they may easily be seen in their full 
beauty, all persons learn to look at them with pleasure. The 
most effective way of bringing them to the observation of mature 
minds and to make the young, happy observers, is an aquarium, 
which enables us to know the wonders of the deep without being 
a naiad. There is such a wealth of marine life at our feet that 
some educational use ought to be made of it. The children of 
our City need that form of pleasant instruction which an aqua¬ 
rium affords. Without it, a large amount of useful information 
is lost, not only to youth but to manhood. The sea life in an 
aquarium is a sort of living picture book, but it is a picture book 
as fascinating for the mature, as it is enchanting for the young. 
It is the duty of some one to open, and to keep open, this de¬ 
lightful book for public pleasure and profit. Some knowledge of 
aquatic life is not superfluous, and modern advancement declares 
that it should not be confined to the professional student. Our 
ancestors of one hundred years ago may have thought that to fol¬ 
low a fox was evidence of better spirit than to study entomology, 
but were they now alive they would readily admit their mistake ; 
like the young ’squire who, though astonished that anybody should 
have written such a book as the u History of Selbourne,” was 
forced to exclaim after reading it, “ Bless me ! who would have 
thought that there were so many wonderful things to be see'n in 
one’s own park !” or like the old ’squire, who put the book down 
with the exclamation, u Why, I have seen that and that a hun¬ 
dred times, and never thought till now how wonderful they were !” 
Like geology, natural history has made great strides within the 
past fifty years, and it has become so interesting, that it is an in- 
