In the second part of the volume the reader is made a voyager over the world of waters and an explorer of its wonderful depths. He sees here the vast variety of inhabitants in the briny deep, comprising innumerable species of living creatures, from the coral insect, building its singular islands, up to the huge sea-serpent, that astounding monster and object of
He is shown in this World's Aquarium the lowest forms of life, fantastic shrubs, brilliant sponges, bell-shaped jelly-fishes, the hairy medusæ, the glutinous hag, the curious star-fish, the electric torpedo, the fishing frog, creatures that wear armor, the savage cuttle-fish, the pearly nautilus, the flying-fish, the voracious shark, the singing-fish and other marvelous creatures whose multitude is as the sands of the sea.
The perils of the deep, celebrated voyages and miraculous escapes, the most terrible shipwrecks, the dangers of whaling cruises and the loss of hundreds of lives, the notable feats of the diving bell and the deep seadredgings which have revealed miracles of creation in the cavernous depths of the ocean, the venturesome exploits of pearl-fishing: these and myriad other things are here placed before the reader in glowing descriptions, with elegant illustrations, the beauty and charm of which are apparent on every page.
The reader finds that the volume does not end here, and that he has more worlds to conquer. He has yet to survey the starry universe and stand in awe before the abysses of infinite space, and be dazzled by the armies of light that sweep over the celestial plains. He gazes at Arcturus, Orion and the Pleiades; at clusters of nebula which are found to comprise countless orbs; at gigantic Suns, so distant that they are called fixed stars, arrayed, as the astronomer's telescope assures us, in all the gorgeous colors of the rainbow; at Constellations which must have been old when man was young, and at fleets of myriad orbs sailing in the upper deep, led by the Lords and High Admirals of Creation. He beholds showers of falling meteors, and the amazing flight of comets, "those emblazoned flags of Deity."
Old astrology is likewise scanned, and ar.cient Superstitions and Grotesque Beliefs are described, together with Eclipses, Coronas, Auroras and all Celestial Phenomena.
HENRY DAVENPORT NORTHROP.