December 12, 1901] 



NA TURE 



atedin its production ; and its contents are as follows : — 

 (A) A short preliminary history of the Society. (B) A 

 descriptive history of the institutes and corporations 

 dealing with zoology and botany, including horti- 

 culture and agriculture. (C) .\ history of botany in 

 Austria during the fifty years, under the three headings 

 of {a) phytogeography ; (h) morphology, ontogeny, and 

 systematics of cryptogams ; (c) morphology, ontogeny, 

 and systematics of phanerogams ; {d) anatomy and 

 physiology of plants. 



(D) .A. history of zoology in Austria during the last half- 

 century : (i) morphology and systematics, including bio- 

 nomics and zoogeography ; this enorinous range is 

 treated in monographs of unequal compass — Protozoa, Coe- 

 lenterata, Echinoderms and Worms are the subject of one. 

 Tunicates and Molluscs of another, MoUuscoids of a third, 

 while the classes of Vertebrata and Arthropods, and the 

 orders of msects among the latter, receive distinct con- 

 sideration ; (2) a separate article deals with animal 

 morphology and physiology. 



A bibliography of the introductory discourses (" Wro- 

 grammaufsatze '') of the educational establishments 

 closes the text. The plates are all well-executed litho- 

 graphs of (deceased) workers at our sciences, and the cuts 

 are for the most part full-page illustrations of biological 

 institutions. Separate inde.xes of singular complete- 

 ness are appended, and greatly enhance the value of the 

 book as a work of reference. Unfortunately, in the 

 nominal index no special reference is given to the pages 

 on which the short biographical sketches are to be found, 

 which, as in the case of Claus and Wiesner, for example, 

 may rise to the dignity of scientific biographies. 



Thus the work contains a singularly complete record of 

 the work done in natural history in the Empire-Kingdom 

 practically since its inception in the forties of the late 

 century ; for previous to 1845 there existed only agri- 

 cultural, horticultural and medical societies, which dealt 

 incidentally with nature study. In that year a union of 

 " Freunde der Naturwissenschaften " was founded in 

 Vienna. A year later was the \'ienna Academy of the 

 Sciences founded, by the exertions of Prince Metternich, 

 a name associated in other domains with reactionary 

 obscurantism. The modest union formed by Haidinger, 

 which met in the Botanic Gardens, worked quietly on, 

 independently, through the troublous times of '48-'5o ; 

 but in 1850 the primary intention of converting the 

 occasional publication of Mtttlieilungcn into a regular 

 Zeitschrift developed into the formation of a Zoological 

 and Botanical Society, leaving the geological sciences to 

 the Reichsanstalt. George Frauenfeld, the zoologist, 

 was the founder of the movement, and the first secretary 

 of the Society, which attracted all workers at the study 

 of organisms living and extinct. As in England at that 

 time the biological sciences were largely cultivated by 

 amateurs of the highest birth and rank, so did the young 

 Austrian society gain aristocratic support from the 

 beginning. The first president was Prince Richard zu 

 Khevenhuller Metzch, the second Prince Colloredo 

 Mannsfckl, and we read of the latter that "few were 

 the board meetings from which his Serene Highness was 

 absent." In a country where one-half the population is 

 illiterate, we can understand that education in the highest 

 sense must assume an aristocratic tinge, and the noble 

 NO. 1676, VOL. 65] 



particle " von " recurs frequently among the workers 

 whose names are cited. This much we gather from the 

 short history of the Society, related by Dr. Brunner v. 

 Wattenwyl. 



In the histories of botany and zoology, those of phyto- 

 geography and zoogeography hold the first places. One 

 of the first objects set before the Vienna society at its 

 foundation was the study of the native organisms of the 

 Fatherland, and many of the provincial bodies have 

 devoted their chief energies to this pursuit. When the 

 faunistic and floristic studies of Austrian travellers are 

 added, we can but admire the wonderful and successful 

 work of a country usually held to be rather behind the 

 average advancement of Europe. 



But to say this gives no adequate account of the ac- 

 tivity of Austrian biologists. In botany, over against 

 such systematists as Endlicher, Fenzl and Engler may 

 be set Unger, the discoverer of cilia in the lower plants ; 

 Ingen Housz, one of the fathers of plant physiology ; 

 Wiesner and Leitzeb, the histo legists and physiologists ; 

 Kerner V. Marilaun, whose grasp of plant-bionomics was of 

 the strongest and widest ; and Celakowsky, with his un- 

 rivalled knowledge of the morphology of flowering plants 

 and their " monstrosities." 



When we turn to the history of zoology we find a similar 

 catholic productivity. Unfortunately, the matter is much 

 more scattered, as we have seen in our survey of the 

 contents of the book. Austrian zoologists, indeed, 

 occupy a commanding position : we need but note 

 C. Claus, systematist and morphologist, whose epoch- 

 making works on the Crustacea and brilliant studies on 

 the Coelenterates were perhaps second in importance to 

 his stimulating powers as an exponent and teacher ; and 

 V. Stein, who practically laid the foundations of our 

 knowledge of the Flagellates. But in every section of 

 zoology Austrians have distinguished themselves, and 

 one of them, F. Eilhard Schulze, is the professor at 

 Berlin. 



If we ask ourselves the causes of the extraordinary 

 scientific fertility of a union of countries numbering in 

 all fewer inhabitants than Great Britain, and half of them 

 illiterate for the greater part of the last half-century, the 

 first that presents itself is probably provincial patriotism : 

 each country is anxious that its own possessions shall be 

 duly recognised ; and no one can doubt the efficiency of 

 such a stimulus to the capable student of nature. But the 

 desire is useless without the power to accomplish. We 

 can only find this in the encouragement given to children 

 in Central Europe in the study of systematic and de- 

 scriptive natural history, and especially that of the local 

 flora. This teaches system, careful observation, accurate 

 detailed description and record — a combination of ac- 

 quirements realised in none of the disciplines in our own 

 school use. Such work may commend itself as essen- 

 tially "' heuristic " to our enthusiastic band of reformers 

 of school programmes. Moreover, it does not involve the 

 direct teacliing of philosophical ideas, but recently 

 acquired by the pioneers of science and unintelligible 

 to the young mind, which is, on the other hand, trained 

 not to shirk the irksome accumulation of facts : indeed, 

 the results will depend largely on the work of the scholar 

 himself, and not on his passive reception of the teacher's 

 ideas. 



