Sept. 26, 1878] 



NAIL RE 



583 



society everywhere, and the fact that societies under various 

 titles, but all aiming at the cultivation of the natural sciences, 

 were formed in many of our larger towns as early as between 

 1850-60, and more still of late years. 



There is another circumstance worthy of notice, which affords 

 l^erhaps a clearer illustration of the general interest in the natural 

 sciences, and diligence on the field of the same, than even the 

 rise and progress of the various societies already mentioned. It 

 is the constant increase in the number of scientific periodicals, 

 of wliich the following are already in circulation, besides the 

 publications of the academy and the three societies of which we 

 have spoken : — 



{i) Nature [Term/szei), which appears every two weeks, and is 

 now in the tenth year of its existence ; (2) Polytechnical j ournal 

 (Mhessetemi lapok), a. monthly periodical for mathematical and 

 technical treatises ; (3) Reports of the Meetings of the Society of 

 Physicians aiid Naturalists in Klaiisenburg, started in 1876 ; (4) 

 Botanical Papers, amonthly, startedin 1877; {^Leaves of Natural 

 History, a quarterly periodical, started in 1877, and edited by 

 the Hungary National Museum. At the end of each volume is 

 a review of the contents, written either in French or German, 

 in order to be understood in foreign countries, and containing 

 either a complete translation or an abstract of all the more im- 

 portant articles in the volume ; (6) Magazine of Natural Sciences, a 

 two-monthly periodical, started in 1877, and edited in Temesvar 

 by the Association of Naturalists of South Hungary. 



To recapitiUate briefly what has been said, there are in Buda- 

 pest, besides the department of natxural sciences in the Academy, 

 three societies, the object of which is exclusively the cultivation 

 of the natural sciences, and one of which is of dimensions that, 

 considering the total number of inhabitants, are scarcely equalled 

 anywhere in Europe. In other parts of our country we have 

 in all six societies of naturalists, and there are in circulation nine 

 scientific periodicals, not one of which enjoys any aid from the 

 State, all being supported exclusively by the readers. 



These societies, however, are not the sources of science, but 

 merely, so to speak, its conducting pipes. The sources of it 

 spring from the collections and laboratories of the universities. 

 The progress made here of late years has also been considerable. 

 Our university, which was greatly neglected up to the year 1850, 

 has of late taken such a start forward that its condition of ten 

 years ago is not to be compared to its present state. The num- 

 ber of professors' chairs pertaining to the natural sciences 

 (including those of the University and the Polytechnic of 

 Budapest, and the University of Klausenburg) now amounts to 

 three times what it was previously. The greater part of these 

 chairs are occupied by young professors, who have been edu- 

 cated at foreign universities, under the instruction of the most 

 distinguished men of science. Each one has a respectable sum 

 of money at his disposal for cabinet and laboratory purposes. 

 Separate buildings have been raised and equipped as insti- 

 tutes of natural sciences, such as the Chemical and Physio- 

 logical Institute, connected with the University, which stands 

 under the direction of Prof. Charles Than, and already enjoys 

 a wide-spread renown in Europe. The buildings intended 

 for a clinic are nearly completed, and soon the Institute for 

 Physics, the Mineralogical and Zoological Institute, and the 

 buildings of the Polytechnic will be raised in their turn. 

 The number of the students of philosophy increases with striking 

 rapidity, and some of the most distinguished of these are yearly 

 sent out to foreign universities at state expense, with a view to 

 their afterwards accepting appointments in their own country. 



All these things clearly show that Hungary has within the 

 last ten years made striking progress in the field of natural 

 sciences, so that the distance which separated her in this respect 

 from her western neighbours, has grown palpably less. Would 

 that providence should permit her to continue the work thus 

 begun ! J. M, A. 



PUBLISHERS' ANNOUNCEMENTS 



Messrs. William Blackwood and Sons announce "The 

 Transvaal of To-day : War, Witchchraft, Sport, and Spoils in 

 South Africa," by Capt. Alfred Aylward, late Commandant, 

 Transvaal Republic. Capt. Aylward commanded the Leyden- 

 berg volunteers on the Boers' firontier until the Republic was 

 :annexed by the British, and from the prominent part he played 

 in Transvaal politics, as well as from his knowledge of the 

 country and his experience of Kaffir warfare, his book may be 



expected to throw some light upon questions that are now 

 attracting public attention. 



Messrs. Kegan Paul and Co. announce that they will 

 add to their International Scientific Series in October, a 

 "History of the Growth of the Steam Engine," by R. H 

 Thurston, Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the Stevens 

 Institute of Technology, Brooklyn. The volume will give a 

 history of the discoveries, inventions, and many ingenious 

 experiments that gradually led to the success of the steam engine 

 in the last century, and will be illustrated with fifteen portraits 

 and 148 engravings on wood. This work will be followed 

 speedily by Prof. Huxley's volume on "The Crayfish: an 

 Introduction to the Study of Zoology." Prof. Alexander. 

 Bain's "Education as a Science;" and Dr. H. Charlton 

 Bastian's treatise on "The Brain as an Organ of Mind." Two 

 translations from the French will also be included in the series 

 before Christmas, namely, "The Human Race," by Prof. A. de 

 Quatrefages, and "The Brain and its Functions," by Dr. J. 

 Luys. The same publishers announce " The Geology of 

 Ireland," by G. Henry Kinahan, M.R.I.A., &c., of Her 

 Majesty's Geological Survey ; with numerous illustrations and a 

 geological map of Ireland; to be ready in October. "Etna; 

 a History of the Mountain and its Eruptions," with maps and 

 illustrations, by G. F. Rodwell, F.R.A.S., F.C.S. "Flowers 

 and their Unbidden Guests," by Dr. A. Kerner, Professor of 

 Botany in the University of Innsbruck ; translation edited by 

 W. Ogle, M.A., M.B. ; with illustrations. " Mind in the 

 Lower Animals in Health and Disease," by W. Lunder 

 Lindsay, M.D., F.R.S.E., F.L.S., Hon. Member of the New 

 Zealand Institute ; Vol. I. Mind in Health ; Vol. II. Mind in 

 Disease. " History of the Evolution of Man," by Profl Ernst 

 Haeckel, Author of "The History of Creation;" two vols., 

 with numerous illustrations. "Gaur: its Ruins and Inscrip- 

 tions," by the Late John Henry Ravenshaw, B.C.S. ; edited by 

 his Widow ; with forty photographic illustrations, and fourteen 

 facsimiles of inscriptions. These three last books will be ready 

 for publication in November. 



Messrs. Reeve and Co. have just published the fourth 

 edition of Bentham's " Handbook of the British Flora." The 

 principal alteration in this edition has been the giving the first 

 place to the Latin names of the genera and species. The 

 attempt made in previous editions to establish an Enghsh scien- 

 tific nomenclature, in imitation of the French and German ones 

 introduced into several standard Continental floras, has, vre 

 regret to say, proved a failure. 



Messrs. Macmillan and Co. will publish, in the 

 course of the season, the following new books and 

 new editions : — " Sport and Work on the Nepaul Frontier, 

 or Twelve Years' Sporting Reminiscences of an Indigo 

 Planter," by "Maori," with Map and Illustrations; "Coal, 

 its History and its Uses," by Profs. Green, Miall, Thorpe, 

 RUcker, and Marshall, of the Yorkshire College, Leeds, with 

 numerous Illustrations, 8vo; "Chemistry: a Treatise on," by 

 Profs. Roscoe and Schorlemmer, of the Owens College, Man- 

 chester, vol. ii., " Metals," part i, 8vo ; " Gegenbaur's 

 Comparative Anatomy," a Translation revised with Preface by 

 Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., with numerous Illustrations, 

 medium 8vo ; "A System of Medicine," Edited by J. Russell 

 Reynolds, M.D., F.R.S., vol. v., completing the work; 

 "Modem Realism Examined," by the late Prof. Herbert, 

 Edited by Prof. James M. Hodgson ; " Science Lectures at 

 South Kensington," vol. ii., crown 8vo ; " The Theory 

 of Sound," by Lord Rayleigh, M.A., F.R.S., vol. iii., 

 8vo ; "Heat," an Elementary Treatise, by P. G. Tait, 

 Professor of Natural Philosophy at Edinburgh, with nu- 

 merous illustrations, crown 8vo ; " Sound " (Nature series) : 

 a series of simple, entertaining, and inexpensive experiments in 

 the phenomena of sound, for the use of students of every age, 

 by Alfred Marshall Mayer, Professor of Physics in the Stevens 

 Institute of Technology, &c., &c. ; " Ismailia " by Sir Samuel 

 W. Baker, Pasha, a narrative of the expedition to Central Africa 

 for the suppression of the slave trade, organised by Ismail, Khe- 

 dive of Egypt, with maps, portraits, and numerous illustrations 

 by Zwecker and Durand, new and cheaper edition, one vol., 

 crown 8vo ; "A Ramble Round the World," by M, le Baron 

 de Hiibner, formerly Ambassador and Minister, translated by 

 Lady Herbert, new and cheaper edition with numerous illnstra- 

 tions, crown 8to. 



