Sept. 7, 1882] 



NA TURE 



457 



strong University party in Budapest opposed to its 

 existence; and they give it no countenance either by 

 their presence or otherwise. Nevertheless we are persuaded 

 that the influence of the Association is good. 



Debreczin is a great Calvinist centre. It has been 

 called the " Rome of Calvinists." There is a Calvinist 

 College which educates nearly 2,000 children, boys, and 

 young men. Roughly there are 2,000 Calvinist parishes 

 in Hungary, containing 2,000,000 souls, and of these 560 

 parishes and 800,000 souls are under the jurisdiction of 

 the Bishop of Debreczin. The Bishop was President of 

 the Association and the Sectional Meetings were held in 

 the College. Great toleration exists in religious matters 

 throughout Hungary, and the Calvinist Bishop and 

 Roman Catholic Praepostor entered the Hall together 

 and sat next to each other during the delivery of the 

 Presidential Address. 



On the evening of the first clay of meeting, the train 

 from Budapest which conveyed a number of members, 

 was met at the station by the town authorities, and an 

 address of welcome was delivered. We then went to 

 the Town Hall, registered our names, received various 

 publications including a fine volume giving a complete 

 history from every point of view of the town, which 

 has cost the municipal authorities 6000 florins. In the 

 evening we all dined together. On the following day the 

 Presidential Address was delivered at 10 a.m. This was 

 followed by the reading of letters of salutation from 

 various parts of Hungary. A paper was then read by 

 Prof. Torfik one of the Vice Presidents on the Meteorites 

 of Hungary, and specially on the Kaba meteorite which 

 fell near Debreczin in 1857. This was the period of the 

 Austrian domination, and many meteorites had already 

 been taken from Hungarian museums and transferred to 

 Vienna. A demand was at once made for the Kaba 

 meteorite to be similarly transferred, but the Debreczin 

 authorities answered, " It is true that you have a right to 

 everything on and beneath the earth of Hungary, but 

 this came from Heaven. Hence wc propose to keep it 

 here." And it remains in the Debreczin Museum. After 

 the meteorite paper an eulogium was pronounce 1 by Dr. 

 Popper on Dr. Albert Kain, a recently deceased and pro- 

 minent citizen. A short paper on children's diseases 

 was then read by Prof. Bddogh, and the proceedings termi- 

 nated at 1 p.m. Soon afterwards the members sat down 

 to a public banquet of a very festive nature, which lasted 

 till nearly 5 o'clock, and was notable for the national 

 dishes, and profusion of native wines and mineral waters ; 

 of the latter Hungary possesses no less than eighty 

 different varieties. 



At 5 o'clock a lecture was given by Dr. Kis; on 

 Hatvani, a professor of physics in the Debreczin College 

 of the last century. He studied in I.eyden and was the 

 first to introduce experimental illustration into the college 

 lectures. A good deal of his apparatus was exhibited 

 and the air-pump with a huge horizontal barrel two feet 

 in length and three inches in diameter, was particularly 

 interesting. In principle it scarcely differed from Robert 

 Boyle's second air-pump of the preceeding century. 



At 9 a.m. on the following day the three sections were 

 formed, and addresses delivered by the Presidents. The 

 Physical Section was presided over by Prof Hunfalvi of 

 Budapest, and his address was mainly devoted to the 

 Meteorology of Hungary. He dwelt particularly on the 

 great evils resulting from the cutting down of forests, 

 and the climatal changes likely to result therefrom. As 

 wood is commonly burnt for fuel in Hungary, and the 

 winters are very severe, the destruction of forests is pro- 

 ceeding at a great rate. The address was considered of 

 such importance that it was ordered to be printed 

 separately and distributed all over Hungary. The 

 Medical -Section was presided over by Prof. Torok, and the 

 Economic Section by Prof. Kiraly. The meetings closed 

 at noon, and recommenced again at 3 p.m. At 5 to a 



very crowded audience Prof. Antolik gave a lecture on 

 the electric discharge, with some original experiments. 



The Sectional Meetings were continued the next day 

 and in the afternoon an excursion was made through 

 the Debreczin Forest to an Agricultural College founded 

 by the Government for the instruction of land agents 

 and managers of large estates. The course extends 

 over three years, and the students pay nearly ,£21 a year. 

 The institution is a large mode! farm possessing a 

 good deal of land, and very complete farm buildings 

 in which fine breeds of cattle, horses, and pigs are 

 reared. The bulls and horses are of particularly fine 

 breed. In returning we halted at a forest hotel, dined, 

 and afterwards danced, the national Csdrdds being 

 of course the most popular. Sectional meetings were 

 continued during the following day, and on August 27 

 the closing meeting was held. In the afternoon there was 

 an excursion to the salt lakes of N)iregh;iza. 



The invitations were written in Latin, as of course 

 Hungarian is a language, not much known out of the 

 country. They were worded as follows : — 



" Doctores Medicinae et naturae scrutatores Hungariae, 

 hoc anno Debrecini a 20-27 Mensis Augusti, Congrega- 

 tionem Scientificam sunt celebraturi. 



" Cum ad hoc Congregationem D. . . . M. . . . N. , . , 

 solemniter invitaremus, simul impense, rogamus, ut nos 

 gratissima sua praescntia honorare, vel aliishunc honorem 

 delegare, congregationisque medicorum et naturae -cruta- 

 torum in cognoscendio rerum causis positum studium 

 favore et si lubet opera prosequi non dedignetur. 



" Dissertationes de natura rerum agentes, secundum 

 statuta congregationis, quacunque lingua haberi possunt. 



" Sincerissimam quam possumus salutationem exhi- 

 bentes perseveramu-. Debrecini, 4 Mai, 



ears ago Latin was commonly spoken by edu- 

 cated Hungarians, and Latin words are now 1 1 

 used in intercourse with foreigners. < )ne morning when I 

 was looking for my host, his little son gravely gave me a 

 letter which he had rapidly penned, expressed with the 

 following charming naivete* : — "Dominc Professor I Metis 

 pater e=t in Collegio. Si Vestra Dominatio alloqui ilium 

 vult, voco statim domo. Hora nona certe redibit." And 

 while on the subject of colloquial Latin in this country, 

 we are fain to remember the story of the English sailor, 

 who was rolling a gigantic piece of tobacco in his mouth, 

 to whom a Hungarian, unused to the custom said, pointing 

 to the distended cheek, "Quid est hoc?'' whereupon the 

 sailor answered readily, " Hoc est quid." 



It is impossible to conclude this short notice of a 

 very interesting scientific meeting, without mention of 

 the extraordinary cordiality and hospitality of the town 

 of Debreczin. G. F. Rodwkll 



77/ A' BRITISH ASSOCIATION 



THE number of papers in the two leading departments 

 of the Biological Secticn were very few this year, 

 as indeed they have been for some >ears, and therefore 

 it was decided by the General Committee that the number 

 of departments of that section be reduced from three to 

 two. Next year's meeting was fixed for September 19, 

 with the view of bringing it towards the close of the 

 holidays rather than in the middle of them. A formal 

 resolution was also passed authorising the Council to 

 make the best arrangements they can for securing an 

 equal represent ition of all the sections at the meeting 

 proposed to be held at Montreal in the succeeding year. 

 One or two speakers seemed to doubt whether the matter 

 could be regarded as finally settled. A suggestion was 

 made that a meeting should be held in this country as 

 usual, and that the vice-presidents should go to Canada 

 as delegates. It was stated on both sides that members 

 were absent at Monday's meeting whose votes would 

 have materially affected the decision arrived at. It is 



