A place for the observation of nature - continued...

The Versuchsfeld or observatorio was an essential part of the society's doings as well as it later was of relevance in the foundation of physiological institutes in Prussia in the 1830s and 1840s which often had been labelled observatorio.

It was mainly used for elaborate trials and experiments and to answer the many questions regarding the nature of plants which were of interest to science and arts alike. As the name observatorio clearly suggests much of the research therein was rather connected to observation and description than to scientific measurement. Within the beds of the observatorio the many plant species grown could be observed in terms of their respective developmental stages. As the outer structural details were thought to correspond the inner processes of the physical life of plants observation was one way to understand those processes and link them both to known anatomical details and environmental factors. The observatorio therefore offered a room for the objective view of the many observers.

Physiology hence was and even more so became a demonstrative and descriptive science within the garden as the objects of study - natural bodies and actual existences - carried the results of their sucessive physical life visibly along. The trained eye of the observer only had to read off the details of the varying forms of plants. As a scientific discipline composed of experiences, physiology was made anschaulich or demonstrative. The garden as the extensive field of and for observation became a workshop for the examination of nature and its various species. As a spatial entity it offered more for the understanding and study of nature then any textbook of the time ever could.

Early physiology was a practical "art of observing" which was empirically pursued by botanists and gardeners alike. Not only did the beds of the observatorio provide for a circumstantial, elaborate and simultaneous observation of the various species under cultivation. It also, and much more, offered an Anschauung of the physical processes of plant life - for every visitor, laymen or scientists. In this respect the observatorio also highlights its innermost dual function: it was designed both for research and popularising scientific illustration.