I can't resist telling you how, early in the 17th century, the 
University of Montpellier botanical garden solved this problem. It 
posted a Latin sign with a graceful reference to classical mythology 
that every well-trained student should have been able to understand:

Hic Argus Esto et Non Briareus.

Here you should be Argus, not Briareus.

[Argus was a giant with a hundred hands, Briareus was the 
hundred-handed son of Uranus and Gaia]

ie Be all eyes, not all hands.

Karen

>   we are having more
>trouble coming up with a positive way of communicating "don't touch" clearly
>in written form
>
>Laurel Spencer Forsythe
>Executive Director
>Ruthmere
>302 E. Beardsley Ave.
>Elkhart, IN 46514
>(574) 264-0330
>
>www.ruthmere.org
>

-- 
Karen Reeds, PhD, FLS
Guest Curator
Come into a New World: Linnaeus & America
Exhibition, February 15-July 1, 2007
American Swedish Historical Museum, Philadelphia  215--389-1776
http://www.americanswedish.org/
http://www.americanswedish.org/linnaeus.htm

[log in to unmask]
609--279-9420

Just published:
Visualizing Medieval Medicine and Natural History, 1200-1550
Jean A. Givens, Karen M. Reeds, Alain Touwaide, eds.
Series: AVISTA Studies in the History of Medieval Technology, Science 
and Art  (Ashgate, 2006)
https://www.ashgate.com/shopping/search.asp
http://orgs.uww.edu/avista/medicine.htm

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