Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/231

Rh A P U A Q U 217 Apulia is still employed as a geographical, but no longer as an ethnological or political designation. APURE, a river of Venezuela, formed by the confluence of the Orivante and the Sarare in 7 N. lat., and 71 W. long., and joining the Orinoco, after a course of about 500 miles. Its chief tributaries are the Caparo and the Portuguesa. APURIMAC, or TAMBO, a Peruvian river which rises in the lagoon of Villafro, near Caylloma, flows in a generally northward direction, and, receiving the waters of the Velille, the San Tomas, the Mamara, the Pachachaca, the Pampas, the Mantaro, and the Perene, falls into the Ucayali, an affluent of the Amazon. The river formed by the Tambo or Catongo, as it is called in this part of its course and the Mantaro receives the name of Ene, and is joined by the Perene, a river large enough for the passage of steamers. About 30 miles further down it forms a great cataract, which breaks the navigation. After receiving the Muyupu and the Vilcamayu or Urubamba, the stream, under the name of Ucayali, flows north to join the other head-streams of the Amazon near Nauta. The navigation of the Apurimac below the falls is greatly hindered by its strong and rapid current. The whole length of its course is about GOO miles. AQUAMBO or AKUAMU, a country in the interior of the Gold Coast of Africa, extending along both banks of the Rio Volta or Aswada. The portion to the west of the river is under British protection; and that on the east, with the exception of a narrow strip along the bank, is sub ject to the king of Dahomey. AQUAPIM, a country of considerable extent in the interior of the Gold Coast of Africa, immediately behind Accra. It is watered by the Densu, Dinskoi, or Seccoom, and is finely diversified with cultivated valleys and wooded hills of considerable elevation. The- most important place is Akropong. AQUARIANS, a name given to various sects of Chris tians in the primitive church who substituted water for wine in the communion service. This they did on principles of abstinence and temperance, or because they thought it unlawful under any circumstances to eat flesh or drink wine. Epiphanius calls them Encratites, from their abstinence ; Augustine, Aquarians, from their use of water ; and Theo- doret, Hydroparastatte, because they offered water instead of wine. Entirely distinct from those Aquarians upon prin ciple, were others who used water at morning communion in order that they might not be discovered by the smell of wine. AQUARIUM. This word is iised to denote a vessel, or collection of vessels, in which marine or fresh water animals may be kept, and in which marine or sweet water plants may be grown. The invention or rather growth of the modern aquarium cannot, in the absence of precise data, be accurately traced. The aquarium, as we find it at Ham burg or Brighton, has, like many other things now in daily use, been elaborated from small beginnings. It is known that more than two centuries ago marine animals were, for the purposes of study and observation, removed from the sea and kept in confinement ; and there is extant a drawing, of the date of 1742, which represents the form of an aquarium containing zoophytes. Esper, a distinguished entomologist, a century ago kept aquatic insects in water for observation. Sir John Graham Dalyell, the author of Rare and Remarkable Animals of Scotland, 2 vols. 4to, 1847-48, The Poivcr of the Creator displayed in the Creation, 3 vols. 4to, 1851-58, and numerous other works, was during his lifetime a keen student of marine animals ; and, at his house in Edinburgh, he had constructed for the purposes of observation an aquarium of a very humble kind indeed, but quite sufficient for his purpose. It is well known that some of the animals which he kept for the purposes of study lived for a very long period in confinement : one sea anemone is mentioned on good authority as having been taken from the sea in the year 1828, and being alive and well in 1873 (W. A. Lloyd). Sir John s tanks, as has been stated, were of the humblest description, and never contained any of that vegetation which forms so beautiful and interesting a feature of the modern aquarium, and which, as Priestley had discovered long before, purifies the water in which it is kept growing. About the year 1839 a movement was made towards the construction of aquariums of a more elaborate description, which lasted for more than twenty years, during which time a large number were made, and many descriptive works published on the subject. Agencies were during that period established in London and elsewhere for the supply of animals ; and some at the same time made it a busi ness to purvey sea-water the obtaining of this, and keep ing it fresh, being with many persons who lived far from the sea a great difficulty. Indeed the difficulty was so great that an artificial compound was in numerous in stances resorted to for lack of genuine sea-water. A solu tion of this difficulty came tardily, in 1841. Mr Ward at that time constructed in London a fresh-water aquarium, in which aquatic plants were very successfully grown for the purpose of keeping the water pure and the animals healthy; and a year later, Dr George Johnston of Berwick- on-Tweed, accidentally discovered, in the course of making an experiment for another purpose, that the animal and plant life of the sea could also be made to support each other. For a period of sixty days he kept some animals in a jar without once changing the water, and thus solved the problem. Early in 1847 Mrs Thynne of London suc cessfully investigated the problem, whether it was possible to keep the animals in good condition of health without changing the water. In 1849 Mr R. Warington, also of London, and afterwards Mr P. H. Gosse, conducted suc cessful experiments having for their object the balancing of vegetable and animal life, which afterwards came to be thoroughly recognised. Sea-weeds, however, do not bear transplanting, but sea-water is so impregnated with the seeds or germs of vegetable life, that when a few stones or fragments of rock are taken from the ocean, marine vegeta tion speedily commences and proceeds. Mr Price, Mr Lankester, Mr Bowerbauk, and others, also made experi ments in the same direction ; and in 1853 a fish-house or aquarium of considerable size was constructed by the Zoological Society of London in their garden in the Regent s Park. This erection gave such an impetus to the popular aquarium movement as rendered it almost a mania, and for a year or two these scientific toys, some of them of large size, became much appreciated household orna ments, The movement was further accelerated by Mr Gosse and Mr Warington, who published formulae for the manu facture of artificial salt water, in which sea animals would thrive as well as in their native element. Many large public aquariums have been erected since the example was set by the Zoological Society of London. A great aquarium has been usually a popular feature of the numerous Continental fishery-exhibitions held since I860, particularly at those of Amsterdam, Boulogne, Havre, Arcachon, and the Hague. These, of course, were temporary aquariums, ending when the exhibition of which they formed a part came to a close ; but permanent aquariums are now a feature of seve&amp;gt; ral large towns and cities. In England there is a very large aquarium at Brighton ; while at the Crystal Palace there is one on a smaller scale, as also at Manchester and Southport, and preparations are being made [1874] for the erection of similar edifices in other towns and cities of Great Britain. The aquarium at Hamburg has already been mentioned ; there are others at Berlin and Vienna ; and the aquarium at Naples affords special accommodation II. 2ii