One of the educational by-products of German botanical scholarship
was the publication of sets of
large ‘wall diagrams’ (Wandtafeln) for use
in the lecture-room. Most British University Departments
of Botany dating from the period before the first world war probably had
at least one of these sets.
In my own department I have used these excellent diagrams occasionally,
realizing that they
combined clarity, size and accuracy to an unrivalled extent.
This passage from a recent essay by S. M. Walters forms an appropriate
introduction to
the topic of this paper. From the start, it should be noticed that the
use of such diagrams
(referred to as ‘wallcharts’ in the rest of the
paper) was by no means limited to botany
nor to university studies. As will become clear, they were one of the most
important
media for the teaching and learning at different levels of education and
within different
fields.