The object of this little work is to teach the beginner how to proceed safely and pleasurably in setting up aquaria, whether for mere ornament or for the study of the novel forms of animal and vegetable life which these collections enable us to observe closely, no less for the increase of our knowledge of the world, than for the exaltation of our sense of the omnipotence and benignity of Him who created it.
The Nursery, Tottenham.
THE BOOK OF THE AQUARIUM.
WHAT IS AN AQUARIUM?
The Name.—The term vivarium was first applied to the vessel containing a collection of specimens of aquatic life, and the first vivarium of such a kind, on anything like an extensive scale, was that opened to public exhibition in the Regent's Park Zoological Gardens. Many naturalists had previously made experiments to ascertain some certain method of preserving aquatic animals in a living and healthy state; and the vivarium, which is the result of those experiments, may be considered as an imitation of the means employed by nature herself in the preservation and perpetuation of the various forms of animal and vegetable life which people the oceans and the streams.
The vivarium is, therefore, no recent or sudden discovery, but a growth of years; and its present perfection is the fruit of many patient investigations, trials, disappointments, and determinations to achieve success.