I 
il, 
Published Semi-Monthly at the Mew York Aquarium, cor. 35th Street and Broadway. 
VOL. 1. NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, OCT. 25, 1876. NO. 2. 
THE NEW YORK AQUARIUM. 
Now that the New York Aquarium is an 
established fact, and its success assured, the 
Manager, Mr. W. C. Coup, has consented to 
make public many interesting details respect¬ 
ing the methods employed by him in the ac¬ 
complishment of his design. If the value of 
a work is in any degree commensurate with 
the difficulties that have attended its comple¬ 
tion, certainly the New York Aquarium de¬ 
serves to rank among the most worthy and 
commendable of modern enterprises, and as 
the public have the advantage of the success 
there seems to be a measure of justice in pre¬ 
senting such facts as may heighten their ap¬ 
preciation and approval of it. 
In the first place let it be remembered that 
Aquaria are novel institutions in America. 
It is true that others 
have occasionally fur¬ 
nished means for the 
entertainment of the 
public by the aid of 
small aquarium tanks, 
but so meagre were 
all these efforts com¬ 
pared with the pro¬ 
ject now completed, 
tfiat no just compari¬ 
son could possibly be 
made, and hence no 
previous local experi¬ 
ence couL r be render¬ 
ed of service. There¬ 
fore the Aquarium in 
America, being virtu¬ 
ally a new project, 
must be to a degree 
an experiment; such, 
indeed, it is, and yet 
it is the testimony of 
those who know, that 
the New York Aqua¬ 
rium rivals in com¬ 
pleteness and beauty 
any of the Old World. 
In reviewing the work it is well to first 
consider the difficulties which attended the 
designing and construction of the building 
and its contents. The site chosen, though 
emmently fitted for the purpose as regards 
area and location, was yet not wholly favora¬ 
ble, as the wall must needs erclose a space 
irregular in form. So well has the architect 
adapted his means to the desired end, how¬ 
ever, that the interior of me main pavilion is 
even more graceful in appearance than one 
having a more regular outline.* The first 
grand difficulty was encountered when the 
construction of the tanks was undertaken. 
The beds of these great wall tanks are solid 
masses of masonry beneath their whole sur¬ 
face, while the dividing walls are of extra 
thickness, in order that they may withstand 
the extreme pressure to which they are sub¬ 
mitted. For a like reason the fronts are of 
plate glass an inch in thickness, firmly laid. 
It was only after repeated trials and the loss 
of many of these splendid glass plates that a 
plau was devised for securing them safely and 
firmly in position. As these plates could 
only be obtained from England, and as any 
loss had to be renewed from this distant 
quarter, the reader may comprehend what a 
cause of anxiety ana'perplexing delay these 
failures occasioned. 
Then came the still more perplexing prob¬ 
lem .connected with the storing and distribu¬ 
tion of the sea water. In order to keep this 
water pure it must be stored away from the 
light in an immense cement-lined reservoir 
while the pumps and distributiug pipes must 
be all of hard rubber. As no such pumps 
could be procured in this country, another 
foreign order was dis¬ 
patched, and the delay 
in its fulfillment, and 
the imperfections of 
the work when finally 
received were such as 
to discourage any less 
determined and expe¬ 
rienced a manager. 
If these delays and 
expensive trials were 
great, they were little 
as compared with the 
obtaining of a proper 
supply of sea water. 
It was at once evident 
that the only water 
that would serve ti e 
purpose must be ob¬ 
tained well out to sea; 
hence a steamer has 
been, and will still 
continue to be, con¬ 
stantly and solely en¬ 
gaged in bringing in 
sea water from be¬ 
yond Sandy Hook.— 
This steamer is fitted 
