Vig Károly: Zoological Research in Western Hungary. A history (Szombathely, 2003)

Historical survey 13 FVNGORVM IN PANNONIIS OBSERVATORVM BREVIS HISTÓRIA, A CAROLO CLVSIO ATREBATE С ONSCRIPT A. Figure 2.6. The title page of Fvngorvm in Pannoniis observatorvm brevis história... (Antwerp, 1601), the first work in the world devoted solely to mycology. The names and illustrations were collected by CAROLUS CLUSIUS, BOLDIZSÁR BATTHYÁNY, ISTVÁN BEYTHE and others, in parts of historical Vas County that now lie in the Austrian province of Burgenland There is plenty of evidence to confirm that by the 16th and 17th centuries, the botanical works being written in Hungary were not just concerned with herbalism. There was also a highquality literature with another type of scientific content, although most of it remained in manuscript or disappeared altogether. References and quotations by foreign authors provide only a faint idea of these scientific works, which met the requirements of the age in many respects, but were lost and destroyed in the troubled times. Most of the pioneer authors writing on natural philosophy in the 16th century gained their knowledge in the Italian universities, but PÉTER MELIUS was one exception. The spread of the Reformation had reduced the importance of the Italian universities, but many Hungarians still preferred to study at Dutch or English universities rather than German. Those interested in medicine and botany, however, would make for the south, or at least complete their studies there after a period at the German universities. When botany began to make headway in the 17th century, there were already practitioners of it in Hungary.

21 However, the traditional idea that early scientifically based knowledge of plants in 21 ERNYEY, J. 1912. Természettudományi mozgalmaink a XVII—XVIII. században (Hungary's scientific movements in the 17th-18th centuries). Természettudományi Közlöny, Pótfüzetek 44: 113-29.