Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 39.djvu/712

But that part of the museum which has absorbed most of Prof. Goodale's thoughts for the last few years is the novel collection of glass models now in process of formation. Every visitor to our large collections in the natural history museums in the great cities has been struck by the marvelous beauty and fidelity of the models by the Messrs. Blaschka, of Germany. The more delicate marine invertebrates, illustrated in glass in this way, appear to be floating in their native element. By successful negotiations with the Blaschkas, Prof. Goodale has been able to secure for the Botanical Museum at Harvard equally beautiful and faithful models of plants and their parts. The results of the artistic feeling of these wonderful artists are simply beyond belief. The plant in flower and bud lies before the spectator as if it had just been taken from the garden or the field. There is not the least suggestion of glass about it. Every minute point has been copied by the artists without the slightest stiffness, and every shade has been given its true value. All the details of structure are given as they would appear under the microscope. In short, the success of the artists has been far beyond what they themselves dared to hope at the outset, and they are now employing all their time in the studies and plastic manipulations by which these creations are produced. By occasional visits to the home of the Blaschkas on the Elbe, and by providing them with a suitable botanical garden at their own door, Dr. Goodale has been able to indicate the range of the work, and to select the American plants to be copied. The enterprise contemplates the use of the exclusive time of the artists for nine years to come, and will involve at least one journey to Mexico and South America by the younger Blaschka. Two ladies of Boston have provided the funds by which this magnificent gift to Harvard University and to botanical science is rendered possible. The collection is to be in memory of the late Dr. Charles E. Ware, of Boston, an enthusiastic lover of natural history. The collection is now accessible to the public, and it will soon be provided with a descriptive catalogue in preparation by Dr. Goodale. The discovery that these remarkable German artists possessed the skill to prepare in permanent glass perfectly faithful copies of flowers and the parts of flowers, and the securing of this skill for his university and for America, may be fairly regarded as an important achievement in a busy life.

 

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Notice is taken by a correspondent of Garden and Forest of a curious peculiarity of the dandelion. Its flower-stalks stand upright till the time of blossoming is past; then bend downward, assume the form of a double curve with the head close to the turf, and in a few days, having greatly increased in length, rise into the air several inches above the height of the original flower, where their ripened, feathery seeds enjoy a free exposure to the winds.