cutta_: _July 22nd_,
1841.
"I was aware of the departure of Mr. Bauer through the _Athenaeum_, in
which an excellent notice of him appeared. He certainly was a man to
whom I looked up with constant admiration: he was incomparable in several
respects, and I am happy to find, that his death was so characteristic of
his most inoffensive and meritorious life. It is also very pleasing to
me to find that he continued to think well of me. How I should have been
able to delight him had he lived a few years longer."
* * * * *
_Calcutta_: _June_, 1843.
"Poor Mr. Bauer, we never shall see his like again, I have seen but few
notices of his life, which assuredly is worthy of study. There is not a
place I shall visit with better feelings than Kew, it has so many
pleasant associations even from my school-days."
* * * * *
_Calcutta_: _December 31st_, 1843.
"Mr. Bauer is not half appreciated yet; he is considered a very great
artist, but what is that to what he was? But he did not fight for his
own hand, though he worked hard enough in all conscience. Mr. Bauer in
fact preceded all in the train of discovery: he saw in 1797, what others
did not see till 30 years after. For instance, the elongation of the
pollens' inner membrane into a tube, the first step towards the
_complete_ knowledge we now have of vegetable embryogeny. Unfortunately,
Mr. Bauer drew, but did not write, and when I recall to mind a remark of
Mr. Brown, that it was a disadvantage to be able to draw, I always fancy
he had Bauer in his mind's eye; for had he been a writer and not a
drawer, before 1800, in great probability we should have known nearly as
much of embryogeny as we do now. But he shut his portfolio, and folks
went on believing the old fovivillose doctrine and bursting of the
pollen, which, his observations of the pollens' inner membrane, would
have destroyed at once. Then with regard to Orchideae and Asclepiadeae,
he was equally in advance: it would be a rich treat if some one would
come forward and publish a selection from his drawings, without a word of
letterpress."
* * * * *
_Calcutta_: _February 11th_, 1844.
"Mr. Bauer's light is not yet set on the hill. Really when I look back
at his works I am lost in admiration, and always regret that he worked
more for others than for himself, and that he did not use his pen as
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