24 FLOWERS THAT NEVER FADE 



for the hundredth time the synoptic col- 

 lection in the Museum of Comparative Zool- 

 ogy. The Blaschka glass models of marine 

 invertebrates suggested a possible solution 

 of the difficulty. The next step demanded 

 was a journey in 1885 to the studio of the 

 Blaschkas, then at Dresden. It was with 

 difficulty that these artists were induced 

 even to listen to my proposition, much less 

 to entertain it favorably. It seemed to me 

 that the voyage and the interview would 

 prove fruitless. The Blaschkas declared 

 that they were busy from morning till night, 

 every day in the week, with the study and 

 construction of models of animals, and that 

 no inducement could lead them to abandon 

 the known for the unknown, and undertake 

 the construction of flowers. My knowledge 

 of German was imperfect, and I succeeded 

 in not understanding this refusal. On a 

 shelf in the reception room there stood a 

 vase of brilliant orchids, indicating that the 

 artists were very fond of flowers, and this 

 opened the way for my last line of attack. 

 You can imagine my surprise when I found 

 that the orchids before me were of glass, 

 and that they had stood uninjured, though 

 without protection, in an open room since 

 1862. A few questions and a little diplo- 

 macy soon changed the face of the matter. 

 What the artists had done once they could 



