Title: The aquarium
Identifier: aquarium4431897mule (find matches)
Year: 1897 (1890s)
Authors: Mulertt, Hugo
Subjects: Aquarium animals; Aquarium fishes; Aquariums
Publisher: Brooklyn, N. Y. : H. Mulertt
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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Vol. IV. APRIL, 1897. Copyright 1897. All Rights Reserved. Xo 43. THE CARE OF THE PARLOR AQUARIUM. We know of nothing more likely to stimulate the mind to healthy exertion, and take it out of the immediate track of common interests and pleasures, tlie monotony of which is so oppressive, than the study of natural history in some of its least explored fields, espe- cially its extraordinary development in connection with the aquarium. And yet how few there are who seek that charming mode of dissipating the dreary monotony of every-day life, such as it is made by the routine of fashion or habit! A popular love of natural his- • tory, even in its best known divisions, is, in fact, of quite recent date. Indeed, the very existence of such a science has been, till recently, altogether ignored by our great national seats of learning. The earnest investigators, wlio have done so much to lay bare its wonders, were either ridiculed or treated with but small respect—as useless dreamers upon very small and insignificant mat- ters. To appreciate Nature, as well as Art, the mind requires a sj)ecial educa- tion, without which the eye and the ear perceive but little of the miracles passing before them. Each department of science requires a separate and dis- tinct kind of sight. Those who cannot see Nature, Avho cannot see more than a " funny thing " in a little polywog are like one gazing at a carved Egyptian record, who perceives, in the hiero- glyphic character, simply the sculp- tured figure of a polywog, and no more —they are in a state of Egyptian dark- ness as regards one of the highest and most enchanting fields of human re- search. When, however, the language of Nature is learned, and her voice is no longer a confused murmur to the ear, but becomes a brilliant series of elo- quent words, full of deep and exquisite meaning, then the student will see as well as hear ; but till then, in his inter- course with nature, he is both deaf and blind. '- Speak," said Socrates to a youth; " say something, that I may see you." Socrates saAv not a silent man ; and those who do not- hear and under- stand Nature's language cannot see her wondrous beauty. The aquarium has been at all times and in all ages a source of information and amusement for the cultured and rich. Already, thousands of years ago.

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