Henry Noel Humphreys

“ Do not the sublime aspects of the ocean—the sound of its deep, ceaseless voice—the eternal on-coming of its waves, now in calm undulations, and now in hurtling wildness against the base of those cliffs whose white brows are wreathed with perennial flowers—suggest other matters both for reflection and amusement? ”

“ To appreciate Nature, as well as Art, the mind requires a special education, without which the eye and the ear perceive but little of the miracles passing before them. To the eye of the common observer, the farthest field in the landscape is as green as the nearest, in the scene outspread before him; while to the practised glance of the accomplished artist, every yard of distance lends its new tone of colour to the tints of the herbage, till, through a thousand delicate gradations, the brightest verdure at last mingles with the atmospheric hue, and is eventually lost in the pervading azure. ”

“ And if he pass not near enough for that deadly floral embrace, those pretty crimson tubercles that dot so gracefully the seeming stalk, beneath the seeming flower, can shoot forth a thread, armed, like the fisher’s line, with a barbed hook, which strikes and secures the distant prey; and so the unwary Annelid or Infusory is captured and devoured. In this capacity the creature has been compared to Pope’s spider, who
“Feels at each thread, and lives along the line.” ”

“ THE VEGETATION OF THE MARINE AQUARIUM. As the forest must be planted before its denizens can luxuriate in its shades, so the submarine shrubbery of the Aquarium must be perfected before the aquatic animals can be introduced. For it has been shown, in tracing the history of the experiments which resulted in the establishment of the principles that regulate the formation of Aquaria, that it is by plants only that a supply of oxygen can be kept up, sufficient for the health and existence of all forms of animal life beneath the water. ”

“ If, then, the ordinary aspects of Nature may not be fully interpreted by the untutored eye, how should her more hidden mysteries be felt or understood, or even guessed at? And, in fact, they are not, or the visitor to the sea-side, looking over that wide tremulous expanse of water that covers so many mysteries, would feel, like the child taken for the first time within the walls of a theatre, an intense anxiety to raise the dark-green curtain which conceals the scene of fairy wonders he is greedily longing to 4behold and enjoy. ”

“ We shall yet have tropical Aquaria, in which the temperature and qualities of the sea between the tropics will be so successfully imitated, that the glorious shells of those regions will be exhibited in living motion to our greedily-curious gaze; and fish 110gleaming with unusual dyes—metallic azure, and silvery crimson—will dart and glide in our tropic-tempered tanks, as in their own tropic ocean, for our delight and gratification. ”

“ THE MOLLUSCS, ETC. The curious floral forms of the Zoöphytes have, as yet, attracted the greatest degree of attention among the constructors of marine Aquaria; yet other forms of ocean life offer equal, if not superior, opportunities for curious observation, and are equally well calculated to bear the confinement of the tank. Among them all, none more than the Molluscs, especially the shell-bearing division, which merits the careful attention of the student of Nature, as forming some of her most singular manifestations. ”

“ Those who cannot see Nature, who cannot see more than an unclean thing in the little creeping beetle, are like one gazing at a carved Egyptian record, who perceives, in the hieroglyphic scarabæus, simply the sculptured figure of a beetle, and no more—they are in a state of “Egyptian darkness” as regards one of the highest and most enchanting fields of human research. ”

“ And yet, how few there are who seek that charming mode of dissipating the dreary monotony of social life, such as it is made by the routine of fashion or habit! A popular love of natural history, even in its best known divisions, is, in fact, of quite recent growth. Indeed, the very existence of such a science has been, till recently, altogether ignored by our great national seats of learning. ”

“ Or we may see the dreaded Shark float round and round the vast glass prison seeking his prey, and the Shark-hunter of the south seas may be imported to exhibit his skill in a bloodless conflict—mocking the attempts of the sea monster to seize him, as the Spanish matador plays long with the infuriated bull; but without necessitating the same catastrophe to the animal, defenceless against the specially-trained skill of his human antagonist. ”

“ Even this he may now do through the medium of the marine Aquarium, within the narrow boundaries of which he may, with a little care and experience, establish in healthy existence some of the most beautiful of the animal and vegetable forms that people the caves and depths of the ocean, and make its watery world a region of wonders. ”

“ And then the high waving fronds of the grandly 13graceful Porphyra vulgaris, the deep carmine of the Iridæa edulis, the nacreous tinges of the Chondrus crispus, and the blood-red of the splendid Rhodymenia lacinata, with its embroidered and lace-like edges; these, with the gorgeous tufts of the rich purple Bangia, and other objects which form the elements of still life in a submarine landscape, surely cannot be surpassed, either for magnificence of colour or variety of structure. ”

“ In the course of his essay Ingenhauss states, still more directly, that plants “immersed in water,” when exposed to the action of light, emit an air which he announces as oxygen gas; and this idea is the key-stone of the Aquarium.
But, although the discovery of Ingenhauss at once rendered the thing practicable, Aquaria did not then come into fashion. The science of natural history was not at that time sufficiently advanced; for the specimens, even in public museums, were merely heterogeneous collections, assembled without the slightest regard to classification, or any other useful purpose. ”

“ Through the fascinating interpretation of the good Gilbert, many now understand the attraction of those branches of natural history which he so curiously investigated; but few are willing to admit that it is as easy to make the natural features of some obscure fishing-village, with no herbage on its bare rocks, and no bush, no blade of grass, no bird to be seen or heard, equally interesting ”

“ Were each of our most idle sea-side loungers to impose upon himself the necessity of a discovery, or an original thought, before he considered himself entitled to dine, that torpor, so deadening to the natural capacities of his mind, would soon give way to a state of mental activity, which, were it only from the brightness of the contrast, would be found highly agreeable, to say nothing of its advantages, or of the elevating and refining trains of thought to which it would necessarily give rise. ”

“ Most of the species can be easily detached from the rocks to which they are found adhering, but in some cases it is found necessary to cut out the portion to which they cling, by means of a hammer and chisel. But when this is done, and they are placed in the Aquarium, they often willingly leave the stone to which they are attached, which they would not do by gentle persuasion, or any moderate amount of force; and they then take up their station on some suitable portion of the artificial rock-work, just as those do that have been originally detached from their native rocks. ”

“ But a gigantic Aquarium is, fortunately, a feat that yet remains for modern science to achieve, and which it will doubtless accomplish. The day will arrive when we shall see the living Behemoth—the Titan of the deep—rolling majestic in waves of his native element, perhaps pursued by his cruel enemy the Sword-Fish, or harried by a shoal of Herrings, 112graphically exemplifying to a London crowd the origin of Yarmouth bloaters. ”

“ There are many glorious things to be seen in the sea, but we have to learn to see them; and those who find they cannot see with their own eyes, must do so through the more gifted sense of others. To many—how many, unguided by an able Cicerone—the fields 18round Selborne would appear common and uninteresting enough; but guided by a Gilbert White, whose searching eye knew even the hidden forms of plants, whose ear at once distinguished and classified the song of birds, and even the buzz of insects—guided by him, things assume a far different aspect ”

“ Among the Sea-Snails of our own coast, which are still eaten by the lower orders, is the Periwinkle, considered by some superior in flavour to the Oyster or Shrimp. This creature, the Littorina littorea, is one of the most useful creatures in an Aquarium, cleansing it from all decaying vegetation, which is its natural food. The Periwinkle varies much both in size and colour, the ground tone of the shell being sometimes red, orange, or even scarlet, sometimes with and sometimes without handsome black bands. ”

“ The earnest investigators, who have done so much to lay bare its wonders, were either openly ridiculed, or treated with but small respect—as useless dreamers upon very small and insignificant matters. The very names of such true labourers in the mine of science as our glorious old naturalist Ray, or his follower Pulteney, or the indefatigable Ellis, the first detector of the true nature of Zoöphytes, who measured pens with the giant Linnæus, received no academic honour ”

“ Care must be taken to observe whether, when the sun shines and the light is bright, the silvery bubbles of oxygen form upon the fronds of the marine vegetation; and if not, it is certain that the marine plants are not in a healthy state, and must be renewed. ”

“ To the extreme left, under the beautiful Rhodymenia, is a small branch of the bright, olive-tinted Ectocarpus tomentosus, looking much like a spray of wild Broom, and immediately below it, a few purple branchlets of Gracilaria confervoides; while in the left foreground lies a pebble, partly covered by a small plant of Zonaria parvula, from beneath which straggles a little branch of the common but pretty Coralline, the Corallina officinalis; and, to the right, a globe of the curious Codium bursa, of the French coast, which might easily be added to our native species in the Aquarium. ”

“ I 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, the monotony of which is so oppressive, than the study of natural history in some of its least explored fields, especially its extraordinary development in 6connection with the waters of the ocean. ”

“ This beautiful little creature, Cypræa Europæa, carrying its porcelain-like dwelling on its back, is enabled to move steadily along by the action of its single foot. When in action, the mantle, as it is termed, which is the general covering of the body, is greatly distended, and protrudes from the shell, which it perfectly encloses, folding up at the sides, and meeting at the top, the joining being scarcely perceptible, and the whole surface fitting so tightly to the shell, that the little ribbings are seen distinctly through it. ”

“ The Mollusca, as feeders, are divided into three classes—those which take only liquid food, the vegetable feeders, and the carnivorous species.
Those which are only able to take food in a liquid form, are such as have no means of seizing prey, their food consisting of the countless myriads of infusorial animalcules which float in the sea-water, and which are carried into the orifice of the stomach or mouth by the current. ”

“ Why, therefore, may we not coin a word for our present purpose, and call these curious Molluscs monopeds, or single-footed creatures?—for they walk with a single foot, being compelled to do so by the very simple fact that they have no other. This limb, or foot, being gradually protruded, its bearing against some substance forces them forward, and when the foot has attained its full distension it is drawn in, and a new bearing obtained, and by the repetition of this process, a certain amount of locomotion is effected. Some species float on the surface by means of this foot. ”

“ We are now entitled to expect from science, that it shall exhibit to us the wonders of the tropic deeps, as it has shown us the glorious plumage and velvet-spotted furs of the denizens of its terrestrial forests. ”

“ It is, in short, when in a state of activity, a most curious and beautiful creature, of whose appearance and habits thousands, who only know and admire the deserted shell, can have no idea.
The bivalves, of which all are acquainted with at least one kind—the delicious edible Oyster—offer many animals suited to Aquaria. The curious Razor-shell, but for its habit of burrowing, would form a very curious object; and the Cockles, from 84the rich colour of their beautiful fringes, when the shells are partially opened for feeding and breathing, are very beautiful objects. ”