Editing Beatrix Potter (section)

===Scientific illustrations and work in mycology===
[[File:Beatrix Potter- Mycology. Source- Armitt Museum and Library.jpg|thumb|Beatrix Potter: reproductive system of ''[[Hygrocybe coccinea]]'', 1897]]
In the [[Victorian era]], women of her class were privately educated and rarely went to university. Potter's parents encouraged her higher education, but the social norms of the time limited her academic career within Britain's institutions.<ref>Taylor, ''Artist, Storyteller'', pp. 59–61; Elizabeth E. Battrick, (1999) ''Beatrix Potter: The Unknown Years''; Lynn Barber, (1980) ''The Heyday of Natural History'', Brian Gardiner, "Breatrix Potter's Fossils and Her Interests in Geology", The Linnean, 16/1 (January 2000), 31–47; Lear 2007, pp. 76–103; Potter, ''Journal, 1891–1897''.</ref>

Beatrix Potter was interested in every branch of natural science except [[astronomy]].<ref>Lear 2007, p. 98</ref> [[Botany]] was a passion for most [[Victorian era|Victorians]], and [[nature study]] was a popular enthusiasm. She collected fossils,<ref>Brian G. Gardiner, "Beatrix Potter's fossils and her interest in Geology," ''The Linnean: Newsletter and Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London'' 16/1 (January 2000), pp. 31–47</ref> studied [[archeology|archaeological]] artefacts from London excavations, and was interested in [[entomology]]. In all these areas, she drew and painted her specimens with increasing skill. By the 1890s, her scientific interests centred on [[mycology]]. First drawn to fungi because of their colours and evanescence in nature and her delight in painting them, her interest deepened after meeting Charles McIntosh, a revered naturalist and amateur mycologist, during a summer holiday in Dunkeld in [[Perthshire]] in 1892. He helped improve the accuracy of her illustrations, taught her [[taxonomy (biology)|taxonomy]], and supplied her with live specimens to paint during the winter. <onlyinclude>{{#invoke:transcludable section|main|section=Scientific illustrations and work in mycology|text=Curious as to how fungi reproduced, Potter began microscopic drawings of fungus spores (the [[agaric]]s) and in 1895 developed a theory of their [[germination]].<ref>Lear 2007, pp. 81–103</ref> Through the connections of her uncle [[Henry Enfield Roscoe|Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe]], a chemist and [[vice-chancellor (education)|vice-chancellor]] of the [[University of London]], she consulted with botanists at [[Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew|Kew Gardens]], convincing [[George Edward Massee|George Massee]] of her ability to germinate spores and her theory of [[F1 hybrid|hybridisation]].<ref>Lear 2007, p. 117</ref> She did not believe in the theory of [[symbiosis]] proposed by [[Simon Schwendener]], the German mycologist, as previously thought; instead, she proposed a more independent process of reproduction.<ref>M.A. Taylor and R.H. Rodger, eds. (2003) ''A Fascinating Acquaintance: Charles McIntosh and Beatrix Potter''; Taylor, et al. (1987) ''Artist and Her World'', pp. 71–94; Lear 2007, pp. 104–129; Nicholas P. Money, "Beatrix Potter, Victorian Mycologist", ''Fungi''. 2:4 (Fall 2009); Roy Watling, "Helen Beatrix Potter: Her interest in fungi", ''The Linnean: Newsletter and Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London'', 16/1 (January 2000), pp. 24–31.</ref>}}</onlyinclude>

Rebuffed by [[William Turner Thiselton-Dyer|William Thiselton-Dyer]], the Director at Kew, because of her sex and amateur status, Potter wrote up her conclusions and submitted a paper, ''On the Germination of the Spores of the Agaricineae'', to the [[Linnean Society]] in 1897. It was introduced by Massee because, as a woman, Potter could not attend proceedings nor read her paper. She subsequently withdrew it, realising that some of her samples were contaminated, but continued her microscopic studies for several more years. Her work is only now being properly evaluated.<ref>{{cite web|title=Beatrix Potter and the Linnean Society|url=http://www.linnean.org/index.php?id=104|publisher=Linnean Society|access-date=1 November 2011|archive-date=9 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111109195118/http://linnean.org/index.php?id=104|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Lear 2007, pp. 104–25</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.linnean.org/Resources/LinneanSociety/Documents/Publications/The-Linnaen/Lin%20Vol%2016_%20no%201_%20Jan%202000.pdf |last=Watling |first=Roy |title=Helen Beatrix Potter: Her interest in fungi |work=The Linnean: Newsletter and Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London |volume=16 |issue=1 |date=January 2000 |pages=24–31 |author-link=Roy Watling |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513210936/https://www.linnean.org/Resources/LinneanSociety/Documents/Publications/The-Linnaen/Lin%20Vol%2016_%20no%201_%20Jan%202000.pdf |archive-date=13 May 2013 }}</ref> Potter later gave her other mycological and scientific drawings to the [[Armitt Library|Armitt Museum and Library]] in Ambleside, where mycologists still refer to them to identify fungi. There is also a collection of her fungus paintings at the [[Perth Museum and Art Gallery]] in Perth, Scotland, donated by Charles McIntosh. In 1967, the mycologist [[Walter Philip Kennedy Findlay|W. P. K. Findlay]] included many of Potter's beautifully accurate fungus drawings in his ''Wayside & Woodland Fungi'', thereby fulfilling her desire to one day have her fungus drawings published in a book.<ref>Walter Philip Kennedy Findlay, (1967) ''Wayside & Woodland Fungi''</ref> In 1997, the Linnean Society issued a posthumous apology to Potter for the sexism displayed in its handling of her research.<ref>Lear 2007, p. 125, p.482nn58</ref>