THE NEW YORK AQUARIUM.
A marine and fresh-water aquarium has been opened in New York, and both from its intrinsic merits and as the first attempt to institute in this country a valuable mode of scientific amusement and instruction, it deserves mention. It does not equal in size or arrangements any of the celebrated places of the kind abroad. Still it contains tanks of considerable size, and in them some very interesting denizens. The shark, sturgeon, skate, sea-turtle, and other fishes are represented by large individuals, and their habits can be watched at leisure. A small white whale was also at one time one of the attractions. Fish breeding is carried on in the establishment, which receives constant additions to its occupants by expeditions which are said to be especially planned for this purpose. In any case New York is an excellent point for an aquarium, and probably receives every year enough rare living fish at its great markets to maintain such an institution. The commencement now made is a worthy one, and it can easily become an important source of pleasure and usefulness. The system employed is that of constant circulation, the water being pumped from a reservoir to the several tanks. Pumps and pipes are made of hard rubber. A library, a naturalists' laboratory, equipped with tables, microscopes, etc., are either established or projected in the building.
THE CRUELTY OF HUNTING.
The outcry against the practice of making surgical experiments upon living dogs, rabbits, and other animals has roused some vivisectionists to return to the subject of hunting. This is one of the principal themes of the philosophic philanthropist, whose opposition to the practice seems to be an outgrowth of the better acquaintance which man has made, through science, with the lower animals. He accomplishes his task very effectively by calculating the number of animals which are wounded but not recovered by English sportsmen every year. The official returns show that in 1873-'4 there were 132,036 holders of gun licenses, and 65,846 holders of licenses to kill game in the British dominions. In 1874-'5 the numbers were 144,278 and 68,079, showing that the disposition and ability to hunt are on the increase. As a basis for computation, the partridge season of 21 weeks is taken, and two days' hunting are allowed for each week; while three birds are supposed to be wounded and "lost" daily by each sportsman. This gives 126 birds wounded and left to suffer unknown torments by each one of the 68,079 holders of game licenses. The total is no less than 8,296,496 "lost" birds in 1873-'4, and 8,577,954 in 1874-'5. Then the holders of gun licenses have the right to shoot birds which are destructive to crops, etc., and two lost birds each week in the year is calculated to be the average. This makes no less than 13,731,744 wounded birds in 1873-'4, and 15,004,912 in 1874-'5. The total is in round numbers twenty million birds injured each year! These estimates are made by "Nature," and they correctly represent the ground on which the modern opposition to the hunt as a cruel and unnecessary occupation is based. Of course the figures are not exact. The only effort made was to have them within bounds; and considering all the varieties of game pursued in England, and the extraordinary keenness of Englishmen for sport, this estimate is probably correct. Quite lately they have been confirmed by a noted hunter on the western plains, who says that in his case a day's sport was usually marked by the "loss" of two or three animals. As he is an uncommon shot, his experience cannot be more unfortunate than the average. Such calculations show us how enormous are the results when the whole human race engages in one action. At present, English society offers the contradictory spectacle of a large and increasing body of hunters who oppose vivisection on the ground of cruelty, and a small and increasing body of vivisectionists who oppose hunting also on the ground of cruelty.
THE GORILLA IN CONFINEMENT.
Great interest attaches to the career of the young gorilla now in the Berlin aquarium. Dr. Hermes described some of his peculiarities at a late meeting of the German Association of Naturalists and Physicians. He nods and claps his hands to visitors; wakes up like a man, and stretches himself. His keeper must always be beside him and eat with him. He eats what his keeper eats; they share dinner and supper. The keeper must remain by him till he goes to sleep, his sleep lasting eight hours. His easy life has increased his weight in a few months from thirty-one to thirty-seven pounds. For some weeks he had inflammation of the lungs, when his old friend Dr. Falkenstein was fetched, who treated him with quinine and Ems water, which made him better. When Dr. Hermes left the gorilla on the previous Sunday the latter showed the doctor his tongue, clapped his hands, and squeezed the hand of the doctor as an indication, the latter believed, of his recovery. Apparently he means to support, by every means in his power, the effort at a hot-house development of the ape to the man. A large glass house has been built for him in connection with the palm house.
INSTRUCTION SHOPS IN BOSTON.