May 27, 1822, Leopold Blaschka was born.
Today we commemorate his life and achievements as a scientific artist.
It is his 198th birthday.
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Leopold Blaschkas first catalogue was retrieved in the digital archives.
It was printed in "Mitteilungen der Deutschen Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina, Volume 4 (1863)". Apart from that, a two-sided leaf with the same text (Impressum: Dresden, Druck von E Blochmann & Sohn.) was bound in "Die neuentdeckten Vƶgel Neuhollands. Zweiter Band. Abt. 1.2 / by Ludwig Reichenbach (1845).
Translation in Eglish
Marine
aquariums with Sea Anemones [Aktinien] or (ray)flower Anthozoans
[Strahlblumen-Polypen]
for decorating elegant rooms as well as for instruction,
for teaching institutions and for museums
artificially produced
by
L e o p o l d B l a s c h k a
for decorating elegant rooms as well as for instruction,
for teaching institutions and for museums
artificially produced
by
L e o p o l d B l a s c h k a
At the
instigation, and under the guidance of Mr. Hofrath Reichenbach, Director of the
Royal Natural History Museum in Dresden,
the undersigned has succeeded in presenting the most magnificent sea anemone species [Aktinien] for this museum in such a way, that several
zoologists returning from the Versammlung der
deutschen Naturforscher [conference of German naturalists], as well as the President and the Adjunct Members of
the Kaiserl. Leopold.-Carolinischen Akademie der deutschen Naturforscher [Imperial Leopold. Carolinian Academy of German naturalists], who were present
here for the conference as well as some experts who had just arrived here from England and
France, and who had seen the sea anemones there shortly before, honoured them
with their complete recognition.
In order to
promote the sense of nature and knowledge of it, I have been allowed, in
the same way and according to the same instructions, to artificially represent the
so popular, but most precious and very quickly perishable marine aquariums with such
extremely beautiful and manifold "Aktinien" or sea anemones, or with other small sea
animals and to be ordered additionally, so that these, infused with ordinary, pure well water, remain
imperishable and unchangeable in their beauty.
To decorate
rooms, such aquariums are provided in glass containers with a corresponding
number of the most beautiful sea anemones, for 3 Thaler. When shipped outward, a small fee for
packaging is added.
The same
type of aquarium can be used for teaching in schools, but for careful
scientific study, for larger educational
institutions such as universities and their museums, or for natural history collectors, I can supply ten and even
more different aquariums and I also
offer a selection of the species of sea anemones from the following list, combined
in a glass container, but that cannot be made available for an amount under three Thalers.
In the next blogpost: the list of available glass marine models in 1863
New Insight:
Rudolf Blaschka wrote to Goodale on January 6, 1896, that the first glass sea anemones were exhibited in water tanks, as Leopold describes above. It is always assumed that the models were presented in dry aquariums - but here we read they were steeped into water for maximun effect as an artificial aquarium.
In the next blogpost: the list of available glass marine models in 1863
New Insight:
Rudolf Blaschka wrote to Goodale on January 6, 1896, that the first glass sea anemones were exhibited in water tanks, as Leopold describes above. It is always assumed that the models were presented in dry aquariums - but here we read they were steeped into water for maximun effect as an artificial aquarium.
