[…]1 It will be still a few years, before I come for the flora of Australia to the volume, dealing with these minute objects2 Meanwhile some of the members of the microscop. Society3 might be inclined like yourself to gather, observe, prepare and sketch the various species, as gradually they become accessible through repeated searches on various spots. Of course the preparates can be preserved; but it is best that each observer sketches at once what he sees. I will gladly aid in time to come any one to name and describe the species so obtained. Whether the camera4 is used for drawing, or whether any one draws them unaided, must depend on the predilections and customs of each observer. It is difficult to acquire the ability to watch with one's eyes simultaneously the drawing & the object, but Prof Harvey was able to produce his beautiful and faithful delineations of the microscopic appearances of his Algae expeditiously in this simple manner.5
I regret much, that I shall not be able, while remaining helpless in my ruined position, to join the Society. A few days ago the additional estimates were presented to the Legisl. Assembly;6 but altho' the Observatory, the Domain and other branches of the public service had their rich votes still further augmented, my Department has only obtained £100 for the next volume for Bentham and all my other requests are refused. I have thus out of my salary to pay a messenger, one clerical Assistant, for all books & journals, instruments, office rent, foreign interchanges &c &c altho then even the laboratory, the lithographic branch, the field branch and other parts of my Department remain closed.
With best recognition of all your goodness
Ferd von Mueller.
An unknown amount of text missing.
cf. M's reference to 'the cryptogamic volumes of the Australian Flora' in M to W. H. Archer, October 1873 (in this edition as 73-10-00).
The Microscopical Society of Victoria was reformed under Archer's leadership in October 1873; see Argus, 11 October 1873, suppl., p. 1, for a report of the inaugural meeting, and M's comments in M to W. H. Archer, October 1873 (in this edition as 73-10-00).
Camera lucida, a prismatic attachment whereby, when a user of a microscope looks through the eyepiece, both the image of the drawing paper and the image of the object within the microscope can be seen, allowing the virtual image of the specimen to be traced without the eye ever needing to be removed from the microscope.
When Harvey was visiting Australia, M evidently saw him at work preparing drawings of microscopic features of algae; see plates in Harvey (1858-63), most of which contain figures designated as magnified.
Victoria. Legislative Assembly, Votes and proceedings, Session 1873, vol. 1.
The content of this item, and especially the similarity of some of it to that of M to W. H. Archer, October 1873 (in this edition as 73-10-00), indicate that it, too, is to be dated to October 1873.
Please cite as “FVM-73-10-00g,” in Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, edited by R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora†, J.H. Voigt† and Monika Wells accessed on