Erasmus Darwin’s intimidating work, “The Loves of the Plants,” is a smorgasbord of flowery epic poetry, didactic explanatory footnotes, and detailed illustrations. The multimedia approach of merging poetry, footnotes, and illustrations offers Darwin a uniquely symbiotic mode of expression. For example, if the reader is unable to comprehend Darwin’s poetic imagery he or she is afforded the crutch of a less highfalutin scientific explanatory notes located at the bottom of the page. If the scientific footnotes prove too austere to provoke the imagination, detailed illustrations of the plants offer a more visceral appreciation of botany. Bringing the idea full circle, the visual representation of the flower serves to illustrate Darwin’s imaginative poetry. In our world of hyper-linked encyclopedia articles (adorned with photographic supplements) we take for granted how difficult it must have been to both introduce new ideas and comment on those ideas through only a printing press.
I agree, Darwin's book combines elements from various print media, and these media often interact in complicated ways. For example, the illustration of the plant "Meadia" visualizes Darwin's explanation in the prose note of the *function* of the gracefully bending stalks and beautifully curled petals which keep dew from running into the flower and washing the dust off the anthers. The illustration thus conveys scientific information while presenting the flower as a beautiful aesthetic object; it acts to conjoin the realms of science and art.
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