RECORD: Tegetmeier, W. B. 1862. Darwin on orchids. Register of
facts and occurrences relating to literature, the sciences, and
the arts (August): 38-9. REVISION HISTORY: Scanned and OCRed by
Randal Keynes; corrections by John van Wyhe 3.2007. RN1 NOTE:
Photocopy and text kindly supplied by Randal Keynes. DARWIN ON
ORCHIDS.* IN reading this extraordinary work—one which is in
every way worthy of the great reputation of its author—the words
of Shelley, as descriptive of poetry, continually recurred to
mind. "Poetry," says the most eloquent of modern poets, "strips
the veil of familiarity from the world, and lays bare the hidden
and concealed beauties which are the spirits of its forms;" and
in a corresponding passage he describes it as "reducing to union
under its light yoke all irreconcilable things." That genius,
like poetry, also strips the veil of familiarity from the
objects of its pursuit, and lays bare the concealed beauties
which are the spirits of their forms, is demonstrated in no
ordinary manner by th