Dr. Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward (1791-1868) was a British physician with a passion for botany. In the 1830s, he started experimenting with sealed protective plant containers – forerunners of the terrarium – and in 1842 he published On the Growth of Plants in Closely Glazed Cases. His designs facilitated the transfer of exotic plants from the New World to the Old, eventually revolutionizing the international mobility of commercially important plants. Later versions, such as this example manufactured in England, became popular features in well-to-do households on both sides of the Atlantic. The air in Victorian cities was polluted by coal, but Wardian cases protected delicate plants, spurring the craze for growing orchids and ferns indoors.