Page:The American Boy's Handy Book edition 1.djvu/71

atmosphere. Amateurs must bear in mind that "the value of water depends not so much on its bulk as on the advantageous distribution of its bulk over large spaces." In other words, flat, shallow vessels are the best.

In the light of this fact the author set to work to build his first aquarium. The materials for its construction were bought of the town glazier's son. The amount paid was several marbles, a broken-bladed Barlow knife, and a picture of the school teacher sketched in lead pencil upon the fly-leaf of a spelling-book. In exchange for these treasures, several fragments of window-glass, some paint, an old brush, and a lump of putty, was received. Two or three days' work resulted in the production of an aquarium. It was only twelve inches long, eight inches wide, and four inches high; but, although this tank was small, it was a real aquarium, and would hold water and living pets. A piece of glass 12×8 inches formed the bottom. The sides were fastened on by simply pasting paper along the outside edges; if left in this condition of course the water would leak through the cracks, soften the paper, and produce disastrous results.

To prevent this the cracks upon the inside were carefully puttied up and the putty covered with thin strips of glass, which the glazier good-naturedly cut for the purpose; this not only prevented the tank from leaking, but added greatly to its strength. The paper corners and all the outside, excepting the front was then covered with two or three coats of paint. The front glass was left clean for observation. A piece of pine board formed the base of the little aquarium. After it was carefully puttied around the bottom, where the glass set in the board, the latter was nicely painted to correspond with the rest of the structure, the whole was left to dry. Crude as this tank may appear from the description, it did not look so, and best of all it never leaked.