8 Miscellaneous Notes. 
The Late Professor Celakovsky. 
By the death of Professor Celakovsky, of Prag, which occurred 
at the end of November, we lose probably the most brilliant plant- 
morphologist of the latter end of the nineteenth century. His work 
extended over a very wide field, and was always characterised by 
ingenuity, clearness, and logical accuracy in working out the ideas 
involved. In some of the harder problems which he essayed, he 
did not carry complete conviction to all of his readers, but much 
of his work stands out well above that of most of his contemporaries 
for real insight into the factors governing the history of form among 
plants. To mention two conspicuous examples : his early work on 
the conception of antithetic alternation of generations was a most 
striking advance on previous ideas, and has proved itself extraor¬ 
dinarily fruitful since ; while his “ Reductionsgesetz der Bliithen,” 
published in 1894, a most luminous and, in parts, a very lively 
work, is certainly the most important contribution to floral mor¬ 
phology of the last decade of the nineteenth century. Celakovsky’s 
repudiation of the notion that the history of development of an organ 
in the individual is an infallible guide to its ancestral history 
is particularly vigorous and of the most far-reaching importance. 
Methods of Preserving Museum Specimens. 
The great beauty of the botanical specimens exhibited in the 
Museum of the Royal Botanic Garden of Edinburgh is well-known 
to all botanists who have visited the Garden. Mr. H. F. Tagg, who 
is largely responsible for this work, has recently published a little 
pamphlet on “ Museum-Methods,” which ought to be of great use 
to all those who have similar specimens to prepare. Mr. Tagg 
treats his subject systematically under the heads of the different 
liquid media used for preservation of the objects, so that information 
on the different methods is very readily found. 
It is of interest to notice that Mr. Tagg finds “drying the plant 
the only method at all satisfactory for preserving the colours of 
plants,” while in the use of liquid media for the preservation of 
form, he very properly distinguishes between the preservation of 
the individual organs, and the preservation of what he calls the 
“ lie ” of the organs. The last point does not always receive the 
attention it should in the mounting of museum specimens. 
