Discoveries and Inventions of the Nineteenth Century

The Brighton Aquarium, already so well known as a place of popular resort, is a structure of considerable architectural pretensions, and is the largest establishment of the kind in existence. The idea of this undertaking appears to have originated with Mr. E. Birch, the engineer of the actual structure, who, having, in 1866, visited the aquarium at Boulogne, perceived that the construction at Brighton of a marine aquarium on a very extended scale offered every promise of commercial success. The promoters, in 1868, obtained from Parliament an act authorizing them to acquire a certain site for the aquarium, but imposing such limits as to the height of the structure that it was necessary to place the greater part of the building below the level of the ground, a matter involving considerable engineering difficulties. The aquarium is situated close to the Chain Pier and immediately below the cliff, the building being protected from the waves by a strong sea-wall of concrete and Portland stone. The building was definitely opened in August, 1873, while the meeting of the British Association was being held in the town. Its length is no less than 715 ft., and its average width 100 ft. The predominant element in the architectural style of the building is Italian. The following particulars as to the arrangement and dimensions of the various parts of the building are derived from the official guide-book: Entering the gates at the western end, the visitor finds himself at the top of a flight of granite steps leading to the entrance court, 60 ft. by 40 ft. The front elevation of the building is 18 ft. high, and consists of five arches, with terra-cotta columns and enrichments. On the frieze running round the sides are the appropriate words, “And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life.” On the northern side of the entrance court is the restaurant; and on the southern side a series of niches ornamented with vases. From this outer court, the entrance hall, which is 80 ft. by 45 ft., is approached through three doors. This is furnished with reading-tables and supplied regularly with periodicals, journals, and telegrams; while between the pillars supporting the roof are handsome pedestals, surmounted with large glass vases containing the smaller interesting marine and fresh-water animals, which would be lost to view in the larger tanks. In one of the recesses facing the entrance are four microscopes, in which specimens illustrative of subjects in natural history connected with the aquarium are constantly exhibited. To the north of the hall lie the general manager’s offices, the retiring-rooms, kitchen, &c.; and eastwards, in a direct line with the restaurant, is the entrance to the western corridor of the aquarium proper. This corridor, which contains a great many tanks, is the longest of any: it extends 220 ft., and is broken by a central vestibule, 55 ft. by 45 ft. The roof, which is groined, is constructed of variegated bricks, 683and rests upon columns of Bath stone, polished serpentine marble, and Aberdeen granite, the carved capitals of the columns having appropriate marine subjects. On each side are placed the first two series of tanks, twenty-one in number. These increase in dimensions from 11 ft. by 10 ft. upwards, the largest measuring over 100 ft. in length by 40 ft. in width, and holding 110,000 gallons of sea-water. This colossal tank is the largest in the building, and is devoted to the exhibition of porpoises, turtles, and other animals of large size. The next largest tank, 50 ft. by 30 ft., is immediately opposite. Fig. 324.—Sea-Horses (Hippocampus brevirostris). The eastern end of the western corridor opens upon the conservatory, which serves as an approach to the rockwork, fernery, and picturesque cascade, and also to the eastern corridor. Some artificial rockwork, skirting the north side of the conservatory, is traversed by a stream of water, broken up at intervals so as to form numerous little bays and ponds, and utilized for the reception of seals and the larger reptilia. In the side-space between the conservatory and the second or eastern corridor are six octagonal table-tanks, of elegant design, for the exhibition of some of the smaller and more rare marine animals, and, at the eastern extremity, apparatus which serves to illustrate the hatching and development of trout and salmon. The entire length of this second corridor is about 160 ft., one side of the eastern portion, which is 90 ft. by 23 ft., being devoted to the exhibition of fresh-water animals. At the end of the corridor are situated the curator’s offices and the naturalists’ room, fitted with open tanks and all necessary appliances; and the engines, pumps, &c., for supplying the water, and keeping it constantly aërated. The system adopted for aërating the water at the Brighton Aquarium is quite different from that used at the Crystal Palace. In the former the water is pumped directly from the sea into reservoirs formed under the floors, and capable of holding 500,000 gallons, which can be filled in ten hours. From these the water is pumped up into the tanks as required; but there is no general circulation through the system of tanks and reservoirs. 684Each tank is treated independently, and its water is aërated and kept moving by the injection of air at the lower part, effected by steam power. The popularity of the Brighton Aquarium may be judged of from the fact that the average daily number of visitors is about 9,000, and that on some occasions nearly twice that number pass the turnstiles. Among the specialities of the establishment are herring and mackerel, which it has hitherto been considered impossible to preserve in confinement for any length of time. They are now thriving well in the Aquarium, although these fishes are both extremely impatient of confinement. The herring feed readily upon small shrimps, in catching which they display a wonderful activity. Fig. 324 shows the curious fish called the “sea-horse” (Hippocampus), from the singular resemblance of the front part of the body to a horse’s head, or, at least, to that form which conventionally represents the “knight” among a set of chessmen. The tail of the creature is prehensile, and enables it to cling to sea-weeds and other bodies. The sea-horses have thriven well in the Brighton Aquarium, and also in that at the Crystal Palace. The latest novelties are the Proteus from the dark caves of Adelsburg, axolotls from Mexico, the mud-fish (Lepidosiren annectans) from the Gambia, and the telescope-fish from Shanghai. Some of these creatures are of great interest from the circumstance of their forming the connecting-links between fishes and reptiles. Fig. 325.—Proteus anguinus. There are, therefore, now on view at the Brighton Aquarium specimens of three species of animals possessing a high interest for naturalists and others—not so much because their existence has been discovered in recent times, as because they are illustrations of the great law of gradation which exists in nature. Their position in the scale of organization is so intermediate 685between reptiles and fishes, that naturalists have not entirely agreed as to the kingdom to which these ought to be assigned. Fig. 326 represents Lepidosiren annectans, which has gills covered by flaps, and not exposed as they are in ordinary amphibious animals; and is provided with four fins, or rudimentary legs, according as the reader may choose to call them. The creature’s nostrils do not communicate with the mouth, but are merely two blind sacs, as in fishes. The Proteus anguinus, shown in Fig. 325, is an eel-like creature, only met with in the subterranean waters of the Grotto of the Maddalena at Adelsburg. It has four imperfectly developed legs, and gills reduced to mere fringe, while there are lungs extending nearly the whole length of the abdomen. The optical organs are entirely undeveloped, being represented merely by two specks. The axolotl, Fig. 327, inhabits certain Mexican lakes, and is remarkable for preserving, through the whole period of its life, the gills for aquatic respiration, which other amphibia possess in the tadpole stage only. Fig. 326.—The Mud-fish (Lepidosiren annectans). The mania for domestic aquaria which was at its height some years ago, and the great popularity of public marine aquaria wherever they are properly managed, express the real interest which is felt in the varied forms of animal life, of which the aquarium affords the opportunity of observing new and unknown phases. The progress of the science which treats of the organization of the animal kingdom has made rapid strides during the present century. Among the remarkable truths which have been acquired is the fact of the unity of the plan which pervades the animal kingdom. Each kind of animal has much in common with the kind above it, and with the kind below it: a certain community of organization pervades the whole, which is knit into one by the gradational forms which may be observed 686connecting, like links of a chain which cannot be broken, the more defined modifications from each other. It is their position in the scale of organization which, in the eyes of the philosophic naturalist, gives so much interest to some of the forms of life which have been figured above. Fig. 327.—The Axolotl. 687 Fig. 328.—Sorting, Washing, and Digging at the South African Alluvial Diamond-Fields.