The tale of Maria Sybilla Merian tells us the following about both scientific interest and the New World:
A) How a woman of talent and curiosity could be frustrated by a radical religious sect such as the Labadists
B) Why so many persons of scientific talent had so little interest in the New World
C) How previously unknown plants and animals of the New World could stimulate the discipline of Natural History
D) The impossibility for a 16th century woman to have an opportunity to study the plants and animals of the New World in their original settings.