The Eerie Manuscripts of the Ferreira Botanist’s Study
A hushed stillness pervades the Botanist’s Study, where penciled specimen notes in a ledger stop abruptly, signaling unfinished classification and interrupted research.
Method and Observation
These tools belonged to Cláudia Ferreira, botanist (b. 1878, Lisbon), trained at a regional natural sciences institute.
Her Portuguese notes record plant morphology, growth patterns, and soil conditions. A folded slip references her assistant, Manuel Ferreira, “catalog orchid samples Friday,” revealing a disciplined daily routine of collecting, observing, and recording. Cláudia’s temperament—methodical, patient, and meticulous—is apparent in the careful arrangement of specimens and the precision of her entries.
Herbariums and Tools
On the main table, pressed plant sheets lie stacked by species. Magnifying lenses, forceps, and labeling pens rest in neat rows. A ledger beneath a folded cloth details collection dates, locations, and preliminary observations, each carefully noted. A half-classified herbarium sheet remains pinned on a corkboard, evidence of interrupted scientific labor, a process halted mid-study.
Disruption of Routine
Later ledger entries reveal repeated corrections to leaf measurements and flower identifications. Several herbarium sheets exhibit incomplete labeling. A margin note—“professor questions accuracy”—is smudged, evidence of rising pressure. Instruments lie abandoned across the tables. Persistent illness, compounded by failing vision, forced Cláudia’s once meticulous work to falter, leaving her research permanently incomplete.
In the Study’s final drawer, Cláudia’s last specimen sheet ends mid-entry, notes trailing off. A penciled reminder—“verify with Manuel”—breaks off abruptly.
No record explains why she abandoned her research, nor why Manuel never resumed the classification.
The house remains abandoned, specimens and tools frozen mid-study, preserving the quiet persistence of botany interrupted, unresolved, and suspended in stillness, a testament to unfinished devotion to nature.
