1 8 FLOWERS THAT NEVER FADE 



cluster some flowers perhaps less carefully 

 done, as being practically out of sight ; but 

 they were all equal in their perfection. 

 Were every specimen in the collection to 

 be inverted, the same accurate work would 

 be seen." 



While this wonderful exactitude of detail 

 and perfection of finish are also observable 

 in the magnified parts, they do not appear to 

 be so extraordinary in those because most 

 of them are from ten to a thousand times 

 larger than the natural size, and therefore 

 less dexterity is required in their manipula- 

 tion. But in them also the close observer 

 will find that similar parts, which to the 

 casual glance seem to be the same in every 

 respect, are yet as unlike as the complete 

 flowers. Each one has its own special char- 

 acteristics, just as in the large model of 

 the common milk-weed, for instance, no 

 two of the leaves are alike, but each one 

 shows the same variation that may be ob- 

 served in nature. Such fidelity to life in 

 the details, as well as in the forms and col- 

 ors of the flowers, is amazing. Who are 

 the men, one naturally asks, whose art can 

 compass such astonishing and delightful 

 results? Where do they live? What is 

 their method of work? 



