Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 91. (Budapest 1999)

Kázmér, M. ; Papp, G.: Minerals from the Carpathians in an eighteenth-century British collection

NEWTON NEWTON, ISAAC (5 January 1643, Woolsthorpe, England - 31 March 1727, Kensington, England) studied mathematics and physics in Cambridge. He held the chair of mathematics there from 1669. He was member of the Royal Society since 1672, and its president since 1703 until his death. He already published his major works on gravity and optics, when he was appointed supervisor of the Mint in London in 1695 (COHEN 1964). He was greatly interested in speculative and mystical alchemy (PARTINGTON 1961). In 1669 he wrote to a friend planning a tour of Europe, asking if he would acquire for him mineral specimens, among them mercury ores (WILSON 1994). The Woodwardian Collection holds a single Hungarian specimen donated by NEWTON. SCHEUCHZER SCHEUCHZER, JOHANN JAKOB (2 August 1672, Zürich, Switzerland - 23 June 1733, Zürich, Switzerland) studied science and medicine in Altdorf and Utrecht, and mathematics in Nuremberg. The fossil collection that he began assembling in 1690 soon became famous and brought him to the attention of the scholarly world. Upon returning to Zürich he became municipal physician, head of the Bibliothèque de Bourgeois, director of the Museum of Natural History; in 1716 he became professor of mathematics. SCHEUCHZER carried on correspondence with more than 700 European scholars. His published works include Helvetiae stoicheiographia (1716-1718), the first description of the natural history of the Alps; and Herbarium diluvianum (1709, 1723), which founded the science of paleobotany (PILET 1975). He was an admi rer of WOODWARD, and translated his An Essay Towards a Natural History of the Earth to Latin, to make it available to the learned world (EYLES 1971, p. 419). He donated 278 specimens to WOODWARD'S collection (PRICE 1989). SCHEUCHZER sent three Hungarian mineral specimens to WOODWARD, which he possibly got from KÖLES ÉRI. SCHÖNBERG Members of the SCHÖNBERG family were the superintendents of the mines in Saxony between 1558 and 1761. The most famous of them was ABRAHAM VON SCHÖNBERG (1640-1711), being superintendent from 1676(FlSCHER 1943). SCHÖNBERG supplied 183 specimens of minerals to WOODWARD (PRICE 1989). The Woodwardian Collection holds six Hungarian specimens donated by SCHÖNBERG. WEBER WOODWARD (1728) mentioned him as "Mr. WEBER, who is a Native of Hungary, and has been long conversant in the Mines there, as likewise in those of Saxony" (Part I, p. 3), or "Mr. WEBER, who is an Hungarian and has been long conversant in the Mines of that Country, and of Saxony" (Part I, p. 5). At the moment we are unable to identify WEBER. Probably he was a mining engineer or supervisor, who held posts both in Saxonia and in Lower Hungary. Based on his opinion about a specimen from India, correcting the original determination of the sender, we are allowed to think, that he has visited WOODWARD and gave expert opinion about his minerals. The Woodwardian Collection holds two specimens donated by WEBER.