694 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



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 float- 

 ing in their native element. By successful negotiations with the 

 Blaschkas, Prof. Goodale has been able to secure for the Botani- 

 cal 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 with- 

 out 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 plas- 

 tic 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 contem- 

 plates 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 dis- 

 covery 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 uni- 

 versity and for America, may be fairly regarded as an important 

 achievement in a busy life. 



Notice is taken by a correspondent of Garden and Forest of a curious pecul- 

 iarity 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. 



