Deák Antal András: A Duna fölfedezése
Tartalom - III.A DANUBIUS PANNONICO-MYSICUS, 1726
T II E DISCOVERY OF THE DANUBE together with nearly 80 illustrations. He coloured the descriptions by personal experience. This he how he described for instance the phenomenon called "the blooming of the Tisza". Around the 20 t h of August in 1688, when I hastened to the camp to captain Karl von Lotharingen in a boat I saw flying masses of some kind of a winged insect on the Danube not far from the mouth of the Tisza ... Regarding locusts, he mentioned the locust invasions in 1689, 1690 and 1691. Concerning the last one he mentioned that the dead bodies of more than a thousand locusts covered the road near Lippa at the time of the autumnal equinox. They were lying in holes in clods of muddy earth. I saw some kind of matter in these holes, which were certainly eggs. .. I am ending my study with the same uneasy feeling that Marsigli admitted to in his preamble: I am aware that I was not able to uncover everything and what I did is not complete. There is probably one who could completely succeed in such an endeavour. Marsigli's life, interests and relationships with other people were very complex. Anybody who wishes to evaluate the scientific historical merits of the Danube monograph must be familiar with nearly all fields in the natural sciences, and have a deep understanding of the scientific and artistic life of Europe in the 17 t h-18 t h centuries. But even this would not be enough! First, cartographers, historians, geographers, hydrologists, archaeologists, mineralogists, mine historians, botanists, ichthyologists any many other specialists need to make a detailed analysis and scientific historical evaluation of the book, something which has probably not been accomplished yet, since the book discusses nearly exclusively regions within the Carpathian Basin. In Bologna he is acknowledged as a prominent patron of sciences as written on the commemorative tablet placed next to Michelangelo's work in the Dominican church. 29 8 This must be one of the main reasons for the indifference European scientists show towards this work. Another reason may be that it has not been generally recognised, and this is something we tried to demonstrate in this study, that the Danubius advanced various branches of natural sciences by presenting numerous new results and, at the same time, reflected scientific life in the Europe of that time. These new results were rooted in Marsigli's unique scholarly mentality: his systematic train of thought resulting from the comtemplation of natural scientific problems was enhanced by genuine intuition. Illustration and visual demonstration were inborn requirements with him. This is how his pioneering maps came into being: the 39 frontier section maps, the first thematic commercial map, the first postal map, the first thematic hydrographical map, the first thematic map of mines, the plague map, and numerous plans of locations of importance to historians, archaeologists and scientists researching past natural conditions. Owing to his work and book, lacunae in the natural sciences were filled from the territory of the Hungarian Kingdom and the Danube, the prince of European rivers was represented in a new and accurate form. What is more, it was in this region that the very first terrestrial magnetic declination measurements and methodical meteorological observations were carried out. All the above can only be properly evaluated and Marsigli given the respect and admiration he deserves in light of the activities of the multitude of scientists and artists from various countries in Europe who assisted him with their work, studies or in their answers to his letters. We could see how many scholars he relied on in the collection of his material and that the illustrations of his book were prepared by German, Italian, Austrian, IMAGE No. 48 on page 85: Ephemera 29 8 Aloysio Ferdinando comit. Marsilio scientiarum et artiium instututi munificentissimo promotori clementini academi patrono et parenti optimi. 156
