What's so wrong with being a perv?
There's something about the smell of rain in coastal areas, the salt and brine on the air, calling you home, never Truely abandoning you there
/𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘁:
𝗕𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝘅 𝗣𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝗠𝘆𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁
The pervasive Victorian enthusiasm for natural history produced quite a few female amateur scientists, including ornithologist Genevieve Jones, lepidopterist Maria Merian, and fossil-hunter Mary Anning — “amateur” being not a reflection of their scientific rigor and dedication, which were formidable, but of the fact that a formal scientific education was virtually inaccessible to women, except for the rare Ada Lovelace or Maria Mitchell, and membership in scientific societies was strictly reserved for men. But Potter’s scientific work was exceptional in that she deliberately tried to penetrate the very institutions that dismissed women’s scientific labor solely on the basis of gender.
By her early twenties, Potter had developed a keen interest in mycology and began producing incredibly beautiful drawings of fungi, collecting mushroom specimens herself and mounting them for careful observation under the microscope. In the winter months, she frequented London’s Natural History Museum to study their displays.
First drawn to fungi because of their colours and evanescence in nature and her delight in painting them, her interest deepened after meeting Charles McIntosh, a revered naturalist and amateur mycologist, during a summer holiday in Dunkeld in Perthshire in 1892. He helped improve the accuracy of her illustrations, taught her taxonomy, and supplied her with live specimens to paint during the winter. Curious as to how fungi reproduced, Potter began microscopic drawings of fungus spores (the agarics) and in 1895 developed a theory of their germination.
Potter wrote up her conclusions and submitted a paper, On the Germination of the Spores of the Agaricineae, to the Linnean Society in 1897. It was introduced by Massee because, as a female, Potter could not attend proceedings or read her paper.
In 1997, the Linnean Society issued a posthumous apology to Potter for the sexism displayed in its handling of her research.
For more about Beatrix Potter read Maria Popova’s essay at themarginalian.org
maplebungus
this is honest to god what we should all feel like at all times
