The emerging field of plant physiology - continued...

IV.
Due to the foundation of the Society for the advancement of horticulture in the Royal Prussian states in Berlin in 1822, with Link as one of its founding members, much of this physiological research ventured outside, into the field and garden. Not only did the society supply beds for experimental trials on its premises close to the Royal botanical garden at Schöneberg but also at an observatorio nearby Sanssouci garden. These experimental beds were also generally used for the propagation of scientific knowledge by means of observation, cultivational trials and scientific analysis. The society's gardens provided for the visual demonstration of physiological research as part of a hands-on experience as well as for an ostensive visualisation of the living processes of plants. In this context it was an application of the Humboldtian vital chemistry in connection with the pursuit of the physical life of plants in the realm of the Erfahrungswissenschaft of botany. Thus, the society helped to establish an institutional framework for scientific and manageable experimental research which was not too different from later experimental work within laboratories.

The society further initialised a forum for continuing discussion where laymen as well as scientists of the various fields of the natural sciences could contribute and present results gained in their private gardens. Although many of these experimental trials concerned the growth of plants, the renovation of the soil or the comparison of various economically profitable plant species, known or unknown, those people nevertheless contributed tremendously to the field of botany and physiology alike. For once reported, these finding were discussed and looked over by scientists such as Link who in many instances reviewed and evaluated the contributions which later were brought to the interested public in the society's journal.

Already at this stage physiology has to be considered as a buzzword and the physiology of plants as a topic exceedingly en vogue. As almost every botanical detail was connected to plant physiology, also morphology and plant anatomy were examined in the light of the life and living features of plants. As anatomical and morphological characteristics of plants were taken as an image of their physical life nearly every amateur of science could become an experimenter. Botanical life was all but synonymously taken for physiology.