Louisa Lane Clarke

Louisa Lane Clarke (née Louisa Lane; 1812 – 8 November 1883) was a British botanist and travel writer.

Quotes

The seigneur of Sark enjoys such feudal rights, and so much authority as to be almost a king in his inland territory. By his manorial rights he receives tithes of corn, apples, and lambs, he presides over the petty court which assembles three times a year, called, The Chief Pleas, at which, though he has no vote, yet his veto, or consent is necessary to all their decisions. By virtue of his patent (which however he never exerts,) he can prevent the building of any house without his leave, or the solemnization of any marriage without his consent, and the perpetual curacy of the island is also in his gift.
- Recollections and Legends of Serk: An Account of Its First Settlement and Early History : with Useful Hints to Visitors. Guernsey, Channel Islands: J. Redstone. 1840. pp. 36–37. (187 pages)

Scandal, tittle-tattle, tale-bearing, are the very bindweed of society; as the bindweed destroys the flower, so do they choke every kindly feeling and every noble thought.
- The Country Parson's Wife. Being Intended as a Continuation of and Companion for Herbert's Country Parson. London: J. Hatchard & Son. 1842. p. 42. (93 pages)

THE ISLAND OF BURHOO,
separated from Alderney by the Swinge, is not inhabited, except by rabbits burrowing in the heath, the wild bee in its rose-leaf cell, and the stormy petrel which rests and lives on its rocks. The late Governor, John Le Mesurier, to whom the islet belonged, built a cottage on it to shelter the fisherman or shipwrecked mariner; but it has fallen into decay. The stormy petrel, rarely found on the British coast, may be taken here with the hand; but it has the singular defence of ejecting a fetid fluid from its bill when alarmed or hurt, which often saves it from capture.
- The island of Alderney. London: Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans. 1851. p. 12. (80 pages)

All our farinaceous plants contain abundance of starch, especially wheat, barley, oats, maize, rice, arrow-root; and the granules differ from each other in size and form so decidedly, that they cannot well be mistaken by a careful observer. They are prepared for the microscope, and sold as polariscope objects, because the examination of a starch granule with polarized light shows it with a beautiful black cross, revolving with the polarizer; or, if over a selenite stage, a brilliant play of colours is obtained.
- The Microscope: Being a Popular Description of the Most Instructive and Beautiful Objects for Exhibition (3rd ed.). London: Groombridge & Sons. 1870. p. 14. (1st edition 1858; text for 1871 4th edition at archive.org)

There is felt by many seaside ramblers a want of some unscientific, easy Guide to the Seaweeds and contents of rock-pools on the English coast. There are most valuable works by Harvey and Landsborough on the subject, but more expensive and more scientific than suits the minds of those who seek for health and rest in the sweet summer months by the seaside.
To supply that want I purpose describing the Seaweeds, not exactly in the order arranged by Algælogists (though a systematic aid is given for the use of Collectors); but, taking the coast anywhere as a book, opening and closing as the great sea ebbs and flows, I shall begin with the first-tide pools, and find interest for my readers until the next range is uncovered, and more objects may be found.
Then we shall take advantage of a gale of wind, and see what the waves cast up from depths unattainable by mortal hand.
- "Introduction". The Common Seaweeds of the British Coast and Channel Islands: With Some Insight Into the Microscopic Beauties of Their Structure and Fructification. Country & sea-side library. Warne's useful books. Frederick Warne & Company. 1865. pp. 5–6. (140 pages; text at archive.org)

... books, like Louisa Lane Clarke's The Microscope (1858) and Mary Ward's A World of Wonders Revealed by the Microscope (1859), were directed to broader audiences in a drive to recruit more new microscopists from the general public.
- Meegan Kennedy, Writing Embodiment in Victorian Microscopy: Beautiful Mechanism. Oxford University Press. 2024. p. 35. ISBN 9780198939740. (258 pages)