CHAPTER XXX 



ZOOLOGICAL GARDEN, BUDA-PESTH : DIRECTOR, M. CARL 



SERAK 



This Garden is one of the youngest in Europe. The 

 first impulse was given to the foundation by the 

 naturaHsts, Joseph Gerenday and August Rubinyi, 

 who had returned from a visit to Vienna in 1856. In 

 1861 a committee was formed, shares were issued, and 

 plans were prepared. Joseph Gerenday had brought 

 together seventy kinds of animals, and it was found 

 difficult to house them. In 1865 the Society was at 

 last founded, and in 1866 the town sold the company 

 a site, but made them pay a ground-rent for it. 



The first President was Johann Xantus. On 

 August 9, 1866, the Garden was solemnly opened to 

 the public. Xantus resigned shortly after, and a 

 Viennese zoologist, Fitzinger, was appointed ; he in 

 his turn resigned, and for a time the Garden did not 

 prosper, perhaps owing partly to the many alterations 

 in the management. Its position was so insecure that 

 new and more sensible methods had to be thought out. 

 Valuable aid was given in 1872 by Dr. Szabo, Avho had 

 always been a zealous supporter of the Garden. He 

 suggested that the company should be turned into a 

 Society of Acclimatization, and that it should include 



