HEINRICH GUSTAV REICHENBACH. 197 



** I may write in some time more. A few remarks now — without 

 consulting my herb., notes & sketches. I cannot now. 



** My general impression is q^dte acknoirledginent, & I am none of 

 those base villains, who nowadays make friends of any fabricator of 

 a book, to the great damage of public. 



"I might be permitted to advice you to give some keen side- 

 views of leaves to avoid general flatness. 



"I am not sure whether the persp. of the f view of flower of 

 Masd. bella is quite correct. Ovary may be a trifle too long. fig. 

 2 & 3 excellent, 4 not sharp enough, hence not intellig. to a tyro. 



" Masd. rosea — a rather narrow and dark fl. variety. 



'* M. Eoezlii. I am afraid it is not. Can you not prevent print? 

 It looks to my memory like Winniana. I'll write you as soon I can. 



*'I found no letterpress proof. I cannot hope its reaching the 

 goodness of your work. 



"I would alwai/s give the same details — top of column, front 

 and side — transv. & top of leaf (keel). I would cancel fig. 5 of 

 tovarensis. Much too small for having value. 



** Please, accept my best thanks and heartly wishes. It is so 

 rare to find in our days earnest work. 



a Yery truly yours, 

 '♦ Hamburgh, March 2, 89. " H. Gr. Eeichenbach. 



** I rose just now first time." 



The news of his death at Hamburg on the 6th of May came 

 upon us as a surprise ; the provisions of his will have not only 

 astonished the scientific world, but have attracted the attention of 

 those to whom the disposition of a herbarium has never before 

 presented any feature of interest. Mr. Hewett Watson, it will be 

 remembei-ed, labouring under some temporary annoyance, threatened 

 to make a funeral pyre of his collections; Reichenbach's disposition 

 of his collections is, at any rate for the present, scarcely, if at all, 

 less mischievous than this. The terms of his will are sufficiently 

 explicit : — 



** My herbarium and my botanical library, my instruments, 

 collections of seeds, &c., accrue to the Imperial Hof Museum in 

 Vienna, under the condition that the preserved Orchids and drawings 

 of Orchids shall not be exhibited before twenty-five years from the 

 date of my death have elapsed. Until this time my collections 

 shall be preserved in sealed cases. In the event of the Vienna 

 Institute declining to observe these conditions, the collection falls 

 under the same conditions to the Botanical Gardens at Upsala. 

 Should the last-mentioned Institute decline the legacy, then to the 

 Grnyean Herbarium in Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. If 

 declined by that Institute, then to the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, 

 but always under the same conditions, viz., of being sealed up for 

 twenty-five years, in order that the inevitable destruction of the 

 costly collection, resulting from the present craze for Orchids, may 

 be avoided." 



The bequest, thus limited, has been accepted at Vienna, and 

 thus, for twenty-five years at least — even if the plants at the end of 



