On the table stood a glass tank filled with water, and ornamented in the middle by a miniature pyramid of rock-work interlaced with weeds. Snails clung to the sides of the tank; tadpoles and tiny fish swam swiftly in the green water, slippery efts and slimy frogs twined their noiseless way in and out of the weedy rock-work; and on top of the pyramid there sat solitary, cold as the stone, brown as the stone, motionless as the stone, a little bright-eyed toad. The art of keeping fish and reptiles as domestic pets had not at that time been popularized in England; and Magdalen, on entering the room, started back, in irrepressible astonishment and disgust, from the first specimen of an Aquarium that she had ever seen.
Wilkie Collins – No Name (1862)
Many folk of my generation must have kept goldfish in their youth. I’m not sure why, they weren’t at all interesting to watch, going round and round then round and round again.
It was a little like watching TV with the sound off, people opening their mouths then closing them again.
6 comments:
slippery efts and slimy frogs twined their noiseless way in and out of the weedy rock-work;
It was only later that clammy sunaks became popular with a small minority.
Sam - even then they were disappointingly hard to see because of their tendency to hide in the weeds.
It is interesting that Charles Kingsley’s ‘The Water Babies’, with its clear expectation that readers would be familiar with a number of small aquatic species, was written in 1862.
(Rather sadly, verifying the date via Wikipedia also produced further evidence, if it were needed, that the rot at BBC drama has been well-entrenched for over a decade:
“A 2013 update for BBC Radio 4 brought the tale to a newer age, with Tomi having been trafficked from Nigeria as a child labourer”.)
Macheath - I wonder if that is down to a market for the domestic aquarium being quite recent rather than knowledge of small aquatic species. Possibly a social class difference too.
The BBC does seem intent on using drama to manipulate perceptions of the past in surreptitious ways whenever it sees an opportunity.
Fish tanks used to a common feature in dentists' waiting rooms.Soothing I suppose.
They always had a tiny bit of model ruined castle sitting on the bottom.
Doonhamer - in our dentist's waiting room there is a screen advertising various dental treatments. A fish tank with a bit of model ruined castle would be much more soothing.
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