Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1894-04-03
Inc ssoreT Or T1s FLOWERS,
If Beauty Is but Utility, Then This E1
plurafs,,, ~ g.

IT Beauty Is hut Utility, Then This TX
plauation VIII serve.
What are flowers, these parts cf
plants rendered so conspicuous h,-
their form and color9 The roers
call them the wedding garments Of
plants, but afford us no answer to
the question, Why do some &C the
daughters of Flora, for examul,. the
grasses, the prime source of our food
supply, wear such incoLsji,uous
wedding garments, while others are
IccEed in such brilliant array or ex.
Lale such delightful perfmci Sci
rntitic investigation has solved the
riddle. There are numerous plants
which can be fortified only by the
agency Of insects, which in their
pursuit of food transfer the pollen of
the anthers to the pistil. It is to at
tract these insects that flowers don
their bright garb and exhale their
perfume. Flowers are tavern signs
informing insects that here the table
is with pollen and with. nectar
spread. The fact is now universally
known, but simple and natural as it
appears it was first discovered only a
century ago. Strange!
! There have been countless lovers
of flowers for thousands of years,
and not one of them had an idea
of the purpose which the flowers
served until an observant schoolmas-
ter in his ramble through the envi-
rons of Berlin and Spandau had his
attention awakened by observing the
unwearied persistence with which
theinsects visited flower after flower,
caught nature in the act' indeed,
and in the year 1898 published his
/ remarkable work, the title of which,
translated into English, would be,
The Discovered Secret of the Struc-
ture and Fertilization of Flowers.
1t was a work indicative of monu-
mental industry, with 26 copper
plates containing 1,117 illustrations.
The German schoolmaster was Chris
tian Konrad Sprengel, the son of
/ Brandenburger clergyman. After a
first appointment. in a Berlin school
he was called Q7S0) to the rectorship
of the Great School now Gymnasi-
um) at Spandau, where he collected
and worked up the material of his
work, an astonishing task, which
even today excites the unqualified
admiration Of bOtaniSts. At that
time the work brought Sprengel no
honor. His love of flowers occupied
so much of his time that he limited
himself to only the most absolutely
necessary of his rectOrial duties. He
died in complete obscurity, April 7,
1916, in his sixty y-siXth year.
Shortly before his death he pub
hshed a short memoir entitled THE
Utility of Bees, and the Necessity
of Bee Culture From a New Point of
View," in which he drew, more pre-
cisely, the distinction between wind
fertilized and insect fertilized plants.
He showed here eXperimentally the
incapacity of insects to fertilize the
flowers of currents, gooseberries, ap-
pies, violets and others. These
flowers are protected from the visits
of insects by small canopy of gauze.
The labors of Sprengel were prac-
tically disregarded He experienced
no recognition, and he did not even
retain a single copy of his work.
Charles Darwin was the first to
bring Sprengel's remarkable book
to light and do full justice to the
German schoolmaster HE was
ahead of his age" wrote Darwin
land his discoveries lay long neglect
ed. ."-Neber Land Und Nicer.