V 
have partly cancelled a debt of gratitude I owe to a nation, 
from the members of which I have experienced in all parts 
of the world the most friendly hospitality and the most energe- 
tic assistance in my labours. 
My own countrymen, on the other hand, 1 hope will be 
gratified by my having presented to them for the first time on 
a larger scale the wonders and peculiarities of a country of 
which Carl Ritter, our great geographer, said already in 1842 
in enthusiastic language, that it seems destined before all other 
countries to become a mother of civilized nations. 
Vienna, December, 1862. 
Dr. F. von Hochstetter. 
