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The Victorian Aquarium in Ecological and Social Perspective

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The Victorian Aquarium in Ecological and Social Perspective The Victorian Aquarium in Ecological and Social Perspective Philip F. Rehbock It is at once an ornament, a toy, a cabinet, a menagerie, a Jardin des plantes, a Botanico­ Zoological picture, in which every colour has life; in short 'a thing of beauty and a joy forever. ' Shirley Hibberd, 1856b 1 Introduction Victorian culture acquired a new ornament from nature in the 1850s. Both fresh and salt-water aquaria suddenly became frequent appurtenances in better British homes, and numerous popular books appeared on their construction, stocking, maintenance and philosophy. Since then aquarium animals have become common pets in the households of nearly every social class; public aquaria have burgeoned throughout the world; and marine biological stations have conducted research in all manner of artificial aquatic environments. What touched off the aquarium craze? In particular, what can the aquarium literature of this period tell us about the mid-Victorian naturalist's awareness and application of ecological principles? Albert Klee (1967-69) pointed out brief­ ly the British origins of the aquarium, and then chronicled the aquarium "growth industry" in America from the late 19th century to the present. Elsewhere there are accounts of the first aquaria (Atz 1949, Hibberd 1856b, ch. 1), but none more detailed than that of Klee, and none which addresses specifically the social and ecological issues. Moreover, D. E. Allen (1976) has cited the topic as ripe for investigation. 2 The Proto-aquarists The practice of preserving aquatic animals, in indoor containers as well as garden ponds, dates to Antiquity. Goldfish were domesticated by the Chinese as much as a thousand years ago, long before their introduction to the West toward the M. Sears et al. (eds.), Oceanography: The Past © Springer-Verlag New York Inc. 1980 The Victorian Aquarium in Ecological and Social Perspective 523 end of the 17th century (Hervey and Hems 1968, pp. 76-80). Even earlier, the Romans kept ftsh in ponds for ornament, entertainment and food, a habit prob· ably also acquired from the Chinese (ibid., pp. 19-22, Cheever 1861). Occasional references to indoor ftsh·keeping can be found in British writings of the 16th· 18th centuries (Arderon 1746, Pepys 1970-74, 6,p.ll1, White 1876, l,p. 262, Atz 1949). But the transition from ftsh·bowl to aquarium, a major shift in phi. losophy and practice, seems to have occurred in the middle decades of the 19th century. The great difference between a fish-globe and an Aquarium is, that in the one, we keep fish only, whilst, in the other we cultivate many beautiful and wonderful plants and animals which would not flourish if we changed the water often. It should be remembered, when it is found necessary to aerate the water, that we do not possess an Aquarium: which is a collection of plants and animals that is self-supporting, self-renovating-that requires only the feeding of the inhabitants and the watching for accidents (Edwards 1858, p. 20, 90). Thus the true aquarium, in the 19th century, remains in a healthy state for months or even years, without requiring any renewal of the fresh or salt·water medium. This had evidently been a mystery to the earlier ftsh-bowl·keeping natu· ralists ("proto-aquarists"). The ftrst to attempt deliberately the establishment of a self·sustaining aquari· urn ecosystem, by balancing the activities of captive ftsh with those of aquatic plants, is controversial. Germany, France, and Britain might all claim precedence in the creation of the "balanced aquarium."l LedermUller (1719-1769) appar· ently set up vessels containing plants and animals in relatively stable combi· nations for study about 1760 (Ledermtiller 1761, PIs. 67, 87, Bout 1886, p. 33). His intent is open to question, however, as he must have been aware of the gas exchange relations existing between the plants, the animals and the atmosphere. These relations of respiration and photosynthesis were given their currently accepted chemical interpretation as the result of investigations by Priestly, Lavoisier, Ingen·Housz, Senebier, DeSaussure, Boussingault and others during the late 18th and early 19th centuries (see Nash 1952). In France Charles DesMoulins' (1798.1876) earliest aquarium occupants, pIa· narians (flatworms), required regular renewal of the water. Once when neglected for a week, a considerable amount of algae ("confervae") developed. He then changed the water but left the algae behind to nourish the planarians. In a few weeks time the algae disappeared, leaving'the water clearer than ever. This sug· gested that plants were able to purify the water. In his next aquarium, for study· ing freshwater snails, he included two types of floating plants: lBut see Atz (1949), Innes (1950) and Jacobs (1956) among others for corrections to this misnomer. 524 P. F. Rehbock La temperature etait elevee pour la saison, et l'eau recueillie depuis plus de 24 heures, etait fort sale et deja sensiblement puante. Mon etonnement fut grand, lorsque Ie lendemain, je trouvai toute l'eau du bocal pure et transpar­ ente comme du cristal, et absolument sans odeur. Je resolus de ne plus changer l'eau du tout, cette experience m'a parfaitement reussi (DesMoulins 1830, p.260). Judging from his limited concluding remarks he did not yet comprehend all of the chemical exchanges taking place: L'experience que je viens de relater nous conduit a une remarque generaie et bien importante: sans les plantes flottantes que la bonte de la divine Pro­ vidence a repandues avec tant de profusion sur les eaux stagnantes, les habi­ tans des con trees marecageuses periraient devores par les fievres epidemiques. Mais Ie carbone degage par la decomposition des tissus organiques est ab­ sorbe par ces vegetaux aquatiques, employe a leur nutrition, et ils fournis­ sent en echange une exhalation abondante d'air respirable et salubre (DesMoulins 1830, pp. 260-261). DesMoulins recognized the primitive state of his experiments and called upon other naturalists to extend them. To that end, he gave instructions for purchas­ ing and setting up glass containers in the home. But beyond the initial announce­ ment of his success, DesMoulins seems to have published nothing. The only indi­ cation of recognition by his countrymen was in the attempt by the protozoolo­ gist, Felix Dujardin (1801-1860) to adapt DesMoulins' arrangement to salt-water organisms. Dujardin's moderate success in establishing a self-sustaining marine aquarium in 1838 (Bout 1886) along with DesMoulins' earlier fresh-water achieve­ ment, stimulated a later French writer to proclaim that, with these events "L'aquarium, dans Ie sens exact du mot, etait enfm definitivement invente" (ibid., p. 34). But their "invention" went unnoticed by naturalists elsewhere. It was in Britain that the aquarium fust became a widely known instrument of science and entertainment, without reference to French or German predeces­ sors. The rise of the self-supporting aquarium in that country was the result of the activities of marine naturalists, horticulturists, and chemists. The Marine Naturalists In the early 19th century, Scot1a~d tolerated a few eccentric souls who main­ tained vessels of salt-water for the study of local marine and estuarine species. The most famous was Sir John Graham Dalyell (1775-1851), 6th baronet of Binns, an Edinburgh barrister. The author of numerous works on the history and antiquities of Scotland, Dalyell nevertheless devoted much of his time to meticulous studies of marine invertebrates (Dalyell 184748, 1851-58). Accord­ ing to a posthumous account by his sister (Newman 1973, pp. 3757-3758), Dalyell maintained marine animals in cylindrical glass vessels of various sizes, The Victorian Aquarium in Ecological and Social Perspective 525 possibly as early as 1790. Generally each vessel held a single animal; no plants were included, nor was the water aerated by any other means. Hence Dalyell found it necessary to change the water once or twice a day. A porter brought several gallons of sea water in an earthenware jar two or three times per week, enabling Dalyell to keep many of his specimens alive for eight to ten years or more. One particular anemone, nicknamed "Granny," survived from the time of its collection in 1828, until 1887, long out-living Sir John and several others to whom it was passed on (Daly ell 184748,2, p. 203, Thompson 1940, pp. 224- 226). Salt-water vessels also adorned "the attic" flat of Edward Forbes (1815- 1854) and his fellow medical students, John (1814-1867) and Harry (1816?- 1847) Goodsir, and George E. Day (1815-1872), at the University of Edinburgh in the 1830s. Presumably they too had fresh sea-water brought up regularly from the Firth of Forth. Marine invertebrates were thus maintained in a healthy state for study and later dissection, to the amazement of numerous visitors, including the Swiss naturalist Louis Agassiz (Lonsdale 1868,1,97-104). Forbes' associate, Dr. George Johnston (1797-1855), author of important works on British zoophytes, sponges and other groups, arranged a vessel for marine invertebrates in his Berwickshire home about 1842. Corallines and sea­ lettuce were included along with mollusks, annelids and a starfish-a combi­ nation which sustained itself for two months, but an exceptional case, not repro­ ducible nor worthy of wide publicity (Johnston 1842). And finally, in England, Mrs. Anne Thynne (dates unknown), a devotee of geology, became fascinated by stony corals (Madreporia), during a trip to Devon­ shire in 1846. Determined to continue her observations in London, she trans­ ported specimens in glass jars of sea-water. A maid aerated the water daily by pouring it back and forth in front of an open window. The following year Mrs. Thynne added sea-weeds to her aquarium bowls, but the aeration chore was con­ tinued for fear that the proper "balance" might not have been achieved (as she later wrote).
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