These glass cases had first been used to transport plants across what was the British Empire. Direct inspiration for the aquarium as a regulated environment came from the sealed growing containers devised by amateur botanist Dr. Zoologist Jeanne Villepreux-Power (1794-1871) put her ocean specimens into wooden boxes that relied on a system of hoses to refresh the water. He was not alone in his search for such “visible knowledge” (Golinsky, 2005 p.95), other pragmatic collectors and scientists were hard at work too.Īs early as the 1820s, biologist Sir John Dalyell (1775-1851) was refreshing the seawater in his sea-anemone containers each day, keeping them alive for many years. Gosse spent many years trying to understand the interplay of animals, plants, and photosynthesis in a captive saltwater community.
Suspended above the tank was an aeration unit, dripping two gallons of salt water into it each day. It had glass panes secured with putty and wood beading, and a slate base covered in clay, sand, and rock. One of his first tanks measured 2ft x 1ft x 1ft and held 20 gallons of water.
Gosse (1810-1880) popularised the well-maintained rectangular glass vessel and coined the modern term aquarium.
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