former art, even in the most skilful hands, is scarcely adapted to high 
finish or delicate touch ; when executed by a mere amateur (as part of 
the plates has been) it is still less calculated for such an object. It is 
however hoped that the principal facts explained by the drawings have 
been faithfully represented, and that the defects of some of the plates as 
works of art will not be prejudicial to them as illustrations of science. 
The sketches were commenced by Mr. Bauer in 1791, and have been 
continued at intervals up to the present time; a great part, particularly 
those of the European plants, was executed between 1791 and 1798, 
and all the more important illustrations of physiological facts before 
the latter period. They were made with a view to determine both 
the distinctive characters of genera, and the anatomy and physiology 
of the organs of fructification of the singular plants they represent. 
Explaining in the clearest manner the real structure of the anthers 
and pollen, with all the extraordinary apparatus that is peculiar to those 
organs — shewing the exact anatomy of the stigma, the stigmatic canal, 
the ovarium, the fruit and the seed — and hence elucidating the mode in 
which impregnation is effected, and the relation the several parts bear to 
each other — they demonstrate the existence, in the whole tribe, of a unity 
of design and a simplicity of structure which may seem incomprehensible 
to the observer who has only examined an Orchis and a Malaxis, but 
which daily experience assures us is never departed from by Nature in 
any of her works. These investigations and illustrations had been brought 
to a state of great perfection by Mr. Bauer long before any clear or 
rational account was published upon the subject ; as will be seen by 
comparing the dates of the sketches from which these plates have been 
executed, with the published writings of botanists : this may to some 
appear the statement of an unimportant circumstance, but the Author 
confesses it seems to him an indispensible act of justice to one of the 
most accurate observers and liberal-minded men that this or any age 
has seen. 
The plates are divided into two series ; the one called Fructifica- 
tion,'" illustrating points of anatomical or of physiological importance ; 
