Mázi Béla, Rozsondai Marianne: A Magyar Tudományos Akadémia és az 1848/49-es forradalom és szabadságharc : kiállítás a 150 éves évfordulón a Magyar Tudomány Napja 1998-as rendezvényeihez kapcsolódóan

Guide to the Exhibition

worth imitating. As an example of the intellectual prestige and political influence accorded to that Learned Society, he mentioned that governments regularly called for the Académie's advice, which, he argued, had a great influence on the welfare and education of the French. Besides, he wished that more members had represented chemistry, physics, and medical science in the Sections. Because of the political turmoil, there was no time to publicly discuss these proposals. However, they did not vanish altogether: the reforms introduced in 1869 partly realised the 1848 demands. The War of Independence Public lectures given in the latter half of 1848 bore the mark of current concerns. Engineer Sándor Győry's (M) paper on transportation, part of a larger study in preparation, was read at the October 16 session. At the November 20 session, jurist Sámuel FABRICZY (CM) (board 3: painting] tackled the question of What Rights, Duties, and Powers Does the State Have in Education and Public Schooling? A paper by jurist Antal Sztrókay (M) dealt with municipalities. It was also in autumn that Archduke István, Palatine of Hungary and Patron Elect of the HAS, left the country, and the October 16 session declared that documents were to be issued without his authentication thereafter. The imminent war demanded the building of defences in the capital. János ÉRDY (M), Custodian of the National Museum's Archaeological Collection, proposed that finds accidentally brought to light (that is, while digging the trenches) were rescued according to a plan. He called on the President of the HAS to appeal to Lajos Kossuth, chairman of the National Defence Committee, to obligate those in charge of defences to report and deliver archaeological finds (show-case 8: no. 15). It was added that the Secretary General must also be informed about such finds. The Academy's decree ("Even in times of war, scholarship ought to be borne in mind...") was published in the 2 December 1848 issue of the Közlöny (Gazette). It probably had a part in the subsequent discovery of the old royal burial site in Székesfehérvár. Linguist József SZVORÉNYI (CM) (painting) informed the HAS from Székesfehérvár about marble sarcophagi (board 13: drawings by Varsányi) found during well-digging and drainage in the so-called Bishop's Garden. Érdy, the archaeologist in charge of the excavations, had the finds transferred to Pest, and presented them to the members at a December 27 ad hoc session, chaired by President of the HAS Count József Teleki, in the