CHAPTER XV 



ILLUSTRATIONS FOR PUBLICATION 



Illustrations will be made from some of the preparations used in the 

 course of any histological or cytological investigation. Sometimes— 

 and probably too often — photomicrographs are made. These have 

 been considered in the preceding chapter. 



Thirty years' experience with the illustrations of a prominent bo- 

 tanical periodical makes me bold enough to venture some suggestions 

 not only to beginners but even to my colleagues. Before you begin to 

 make a drawing for publication, get pure, smooth, white cardboard 

 and dead black waterproof India ink. Get good steel pens. Remember 

 that for drawings which are to be reduced one-half, "crow quill" pens 

 are dangerous, because their lines and dots are likely to be too small 

 for successful reproduction, especially if the drawings are to appear as 

 text figures. 



Freehand drawings, for most botanists, are difficult and they gener- 

 ally look crude. Drawings of apparatus, where much can be done with 

 a ruler and a compass, are not so bad. Make the hnes bold, so that 

 they may be reduced to one-half the size of the drawing. Maps 3 feet 

 long to be reduced to page width (usually about 4 inches) or "the long 

 way of the page," which always irritates the reader, are often sent to 

 journals. Letters \ inch in height, when such a map is reduced to page 

 width, would be only 3V inch in height — unreadable; and "the long 

 way of the page," only 2^^ inch in height — still unreadable. To appear 

 I inch high in the periodical, the letters must be f inch high in the 

 drawing. The author should think how he wants letters, lines, and 

 other things to look in the reproduction and make his drawing of the 

 map accordingly. For very coarse lines, unless they can be made with 

 a ruhng pen or a compass, use a "speedball" pen, which makes a line 

 of uniform weight. 



In making graphs, never use the yellow- or pink- or blue-lined paper 

 which is so common in class work. If a piece of research is worth 

 publishing, it is worth doing right. Take a piece of smooth white 

 Bristol board and, with a ruling pen set for a heavy line, make the 

 vertical line at the left of the sheet and join it at the bottom with a 



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