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No division of the vegetable kingdom has attracted more deserved attention than that of the sea-weeds or sea-mosses. Throughout the world they have found their earnest students and devoted admirers. It is not alone for their intrinsic beauty that they are loved. Their collection involves the visiting of romantic cliffs--of shores strewn with the ocean's debris, of caves, and hollows, and even of the deep sea itself. The pursuit is always fascinating, and sometimes even perilous. A spice of danger does not deter the heroic algologist. Like "one who gathers samphire, fearful trade!" he hangs suspended from crags, or ventures at low tide upon the slippery rocks over which the spray is dashing. There need not, however, be danger in the study. Many ladies have been successful gatherers of sea-weeds, and in the albums of many a watering-place belle, may be seen choice specimens, self-collected. The plants need not be studied at all, if one prefers the simple collection and preservation, but it is always pleasanter to know something of the habits, uses, and even names of the objects which one treasures.
W. Whitman Bailey, on the subject of Algæ (1881)
W. W. Bailey (1881), The Botanical Collector's Handbook, pp. 46-47, George A. Bates, Salem, MA.
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