Page:Charles von Hügel (1903 memoir).djvu/75



these things were among the fruits of his long wanderings. A description of a great part of his botanical and zoological collections was published in various works by the collector in conjunction with Endlicher, Heckel, and others. Botany was always his favourite study.

In the gardens of his beautiful villa on the road from Hietzing to St Veit, which from 1837 onwards became his chief residence, he cultivated a large number of exotic flowers and plants, and gathered about him those rich collections of every kind which he retained as souvenirs of the years spent in the East. He was a man of delicate and refined taste, who, whilst giving their full value to scientific interests, and dedicating a large portion of his time to serious labours, loved to be surrounded by that noble luxury which, in his case and for him, was no mere external. His was an artistic nature, and in him the man of science and the man of the world were harmoniously combined. The gardens at Hietzing, with their rare exotic growths—partly in the open air, partly under glass—and their plashing fountains; the collections of strange birds and insects; and many remarkable objects from the far East which threw such various lights on ethnography and the history of costume, and indeed, on the history of civilization:—all these things are treasured in friendly and grateful memory. Three times a week these gardens were open to all.

During this peaceful decade of his life, Hügel organised the first of the public Flower Shows held in his own gardens, and founded the Vienna Horticultural Society, of which he became and remained President until he again and finally left home. On his resignation he was appointed Honorary President: a pleasant memento of those years spent in useful studies.

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