Ferenc Szabadvary
Technical University Budapest, Hungary Translated by Ralph E. Oerper University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio
The Early History of
I
Chemistry in Hungary
In 896 a Finno-Ugarian people from the Sarmatian Steppes north of the Black Sea migrated westward and pitched their tents in the basin of the Carpathian Mountains. They continued their warlike nomadic life for several decades and made devastating forays into Italy, Switzerland, and Bavaria. However, they encountered much stiffer resistance in Germany and after several defeats were glad to enter into a nine year's truce with Henry the Fowler, who bought them off with an annual tribute. Their duke GBza persuaded these intrepid semi-civilized horsemen that it would he better to take up a permanent residence. His son Stephen (997-1038) became a Christian and induced the tribesmen also to be baptized. Under his leadership, they made great political and cultural progress. He was crowned king in 1001, and this event may be taken as marking the beginning of the Hungarian state. The Carpathian basin was rich in gold, silver, and copper. The deposits in Transylvania had heen worked even by the Romans, and mining was carried on in Upper Hungary under Charlemagne whose empire had extended that far. The successors of Stephen I encouraged the production of these metals and conferred many privileges on the mining communities. During the Middle Ages, Hungary was the most important European producer of gold, silver, and copper. Correspondingly, metallurgy and metallurgical chemistry were highly developed in this country. The metal-
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lurgy of Upper Hungary is repeatedly praised in the works of Paracelsus and Agricola. For example, copper cementation was invented there. Pieces of iron were placed in the mine waters to precipitate the copper that they contained. Of course no real explanation of the process could he offered; it was regarded as transmutation of one metal into another. The invention of the puddling furnace for reducing copper was also Hungarian, and from there the method was introduced in the 15th century into Germany and then into England. The separation of gold from silver by nitric acid is first mentioned by Albertus Magnus (1193-1280). It appears that this method, the so-called "quartation," i.e., the separation by nitric acid of a 1 : 3 gold-dver alloy, was first used on a large scale during the fifteenth century in Upper Hungary. The development of a metal industry required reliable analytical methods. The oldest of analytical procedures, cupellation of gold, was known in antiquity; and it was employed very early in Hungary. In 1342, the Hungarian monarch Charles I decreed that in every mining city there should be a royal house in which the samples of ore should he assayed before being smelted. The archives reveal that as early as 1450 nitric acid was an essential for the analyses, so we known that the wet method must have been used. The first Hungarian University was founded about 1370 a t PBcs by King Louis the Great. Natural sciences were practically non-existent a t the time. The
universities offered, a t most, lecture discussions on the chemical elements within the framework and concepts of the scholastic Aristotelian philosophy. Alchemy was practiced in Hungary, as it was in the other countries of Europe. The earliest proof of this is a papal decree issued in 1273 to the Dominican monastery a t Buda, when the pontiff rebuked the monks for their alchemical activities and forbade them to continue such wordly endeavors. Among the Hungarian alchemists of later date were many noblemen, bishops, archbishops, and even a king and a queen. The king who actively engaged in alchemy and whose laboratory journal has survived was Wladislaus I1 (1490-1516). There is no doubt that he was in need of gold no matter what the source. He was weak, his court was poverty-stricken, and even the royal table service was often in pawn. Louis 11, son of Wladislaus, ascended the throne a t the age of ten, and oligarchs who ruled in his name fought among themselves. Suleiman the Magnificent, the sultan of the Ottomans, seized the opportunity of a weakened Hungary and conquered and devastated large areas of the country in 1526. The remainder of the nation elected two rival kings who fought with one another. Tragic times followed. The western regions were Catholic under the Austrian Hahsburg monarch, an independent Calvinistic duchy had been founded in Transylvania, and the Turkish domain was Muslim. Religious wars raged for 150 years. How could srience develop under such circumstances? How could chemistry exist in such an atmosphere? Almost all that had flourished during the Middle Ages perished. The old institutions of h i g h learning disappeared. During the religious wars of the 17th century, both parties founded schools primarily to promulgate their doctrines. Cardinal PBzmAny recreated a university at Tirnau in 1635, and the Protestants founded several academies. Chemistry was not taught, hut the Aristotelian and newly awakened atomistic theories contended in the philosophical teachings of the various schools. Around the close of the 17th century, Hungary was liberated from the Turks hy the Christian armies. The Habsburgs united Hungary under their crown. From then until 1918, Hungary and Austria existed as a dual monarchy, although the national sovereignty of Hungary was often little respected, if a t all. Wars for independence resulted, but this protracted struggle was followed by an economic advance. Mining in partirular was reorganized, and its progress was promoted by the founding of a mining school a t Selmechhya (now Banska Stiavnica, Czechoslovakia) in 1735. The Mining Academy of Selmec
The school soon earned an international reputation as a seat of chemical training and research. Here for the first time in the history of the world, students received a practical laboratory training. I n fact the founding decree directed that the students were to be instructed practice et manipulando. Furthermore, a list was given of the exercises to be performed in the chemical laboratory-primarily consisting of metal analyses. Most students came to the school from other European countries to learn the methods of metal production and assaying. Among them were a large number
of Spaniards who practiced the profession in Latin America. Outstanding members of this group who had been trained at Selmec were Fausto dlElhujar, who with his brother discovered tungsten (1783) and later became general director of the Spanish-South American mines, and Manuel del Ria, professor a t the University of Mexico and discoverer of vanadium (1801). When the French National Convention resolved to create a technical university (Ecole polytechnique), the Selmec arademy was cited as a model because of its progressive, practical curriculum (1). I n 1763, the school a t Selmec was promoted to the rank of academy, and various chairs were established, including a professorship in metal production and chemistry. The first occupant of the post (until 1769) was N. Jacquin, who later became a professor a t Vienna. While a t Selrnec, he made a series of studies which completely substantiated Black's views about the causticity of quicklime, cutting the ground from under the then widely-held views of Meyer regarding the hypothetical acidurn pingue, allegedly derived from the fire during the burning of limestone (8). Antole Ruprecht, a graduate of the school, became its third professor. He experimented constantly. Conjecturing that the earths were compound materials, he attempted to reduce these earths. He constructed a furnace "which accomplished almost everything that had previously been achieved only by means of burning glass-heat and by fire blown with pureit air. With the aid of this furnace all earths, including even the otherwise so infusible silica, could be quickly melted to a clear glass (S)." Ruprecht personally left no technical description of his furnace, but since he reported that he had melted even platinum in it, he must have rearhed almost 1600°C (4). With its aid, he attempted to redure the various earths by heating them in mixture with powdered charcoal and linseed oil. He published a number of papers on his experiments and reported that he had succeeded in ohtaining small metallic granules from the alkali earths (5). His findings attracted much notice and a vehement argument was carried out in the European journals. Klaproth in fact denied the theoretical possibility of "metallizing" the earths and believed that Ruprecht's metal granules were due to the impurities of the crucible (6). Davy's discoveries, which came not long after, proved without doubt that the earths were compounds and that consequently Ruprecht was theoretically on sound ground. Whether his metal granules were really calcium, barium, etc. or whether they actually consisted of the carbides of these metals cannot be derided. Although somewhat farther removed from chemistry, mention should be made here of the international meeting held a t Selmec in 1786. Perhaps it may be regarded as the forerunner of the international scientific congresses. It was convened for a rather interesting purpose. Ignaz von Born (1742-1791), Royal Commissioner of Coinage and Mining, invented a new process for the amalgamation of gold. In 1786, he invited experts from all parts of the world to view and study the installations which had been set up in Szkleno near Selmec. About 26 experts came from Germany, Spain, Mexico, Norway, and England. On this occasion a t Selmec, Born organized the first international scientific society, and in 1790 its 154 members included Volume
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such chemists as Lavoisier, Proust, Klaproth, Gmelim, Watt. Even Goethe was a member. Nothing much was heard about this organization later, and it is probable that it went out of existence because of the wars and political upheavals which began around this time.' Discovery of Tellurium
The discovery of tellurium was indirectly a consequence of Ruprecht's work. A puzzling mineral from Transylvania, nagyagite, appeared to contain considerable gold but did not yield a corresponding amount of the precious metal when processed. Ruprecht analyzed this ore in 1782. He came to the conclusion that it contained antimony along with the gold. Ferenc Muller van Reichenstein (1740-1825), one of Ruprecht's schoolmates and Director of the Transylvanian mines, replied to Ruprecht and stated that the ore could not possibly contain antimony; his investigation pointed to bismuth. Ruprecht responded that the constituent in question was certainly not bismuth. Muller admitted that he had been mistaken, asserting that they were dealiig with a new metalloid. Thereupon, Ruprecht also reported that he too was now convinced that i t could not he antimony. I n 1783, Muller published a paper in which he reported that the ore actually did contain a new semi-metal which he called metallum problematicurn (7). He enumerated the characteristic reactions of the element and closed his account by stating that he had sent a specimen to Tobern Bergman in Sweden with the request that his findings be tested. Bergman began this study and requested Muller to ship him more test samples. However, it is probable that Bergman never received them because he died two months after this letter of request. Muller then discontinued his study of this ore. Ten years later, Klaproth asked Miiller for samples, analyzed the ore, and confirmed Miiller's discovery. Muller did not suggest a name for the element and Klaproth then christened it tellurium. Beginnings of Chemistry at the University
The university was transferred from Tirnau to Budapest in 1777. The first chemistry institute (department) was established by Maria Theresa in Recent pemond communication from Prof. Zaltan Gyulay, Miskolo, for which the author is grateful.
1769, and Jakob Winterl (1732-1809) was appointed professor. Although he was guilty of many errors, Winterl acquired a reputation throughout Europe (8). It should be noted here that his lengthy tenure a t the University had favorable consequences for chemistry in Hungary. He trained many men who became active in this field as teachers and investigators, and who in turn advanced this science in their native land. The domination of Latin lasted longer in Hungary than in other countries; the official language waa Latin until the beginning of the 19th century. The reports of the researches carried out a t Selmec were published in German in a Viennese periodical. Chemistry textbooks were likewise written in these two languages. A nationalistic movement in literature set in a t the end of the 18th century; it overflowed into politics a t the beginning of the 19th century and soon made itself felt in science also. The first textbook dealing with chemistry written in Hungarian was published in 1800. The author, Ferenc Nyulas (1758-1806), had stndied under Witerl. He encountered many difficulties because the necessary technical terms were non-existent in the Hungarian language and had to he created. "Nobody has made a Hungarian decomposition of water. It was much more difficult for me to construct the requisite expressions than to decompose water," he complained in the foreword. The first complete chemistry text written in Hungarian was that of Mihitly Kovacs (1762-1851), also one of Winterl's students. Published in 1807, its composition presented many language difficulties to the author. Thereafter the Hungarian language came more and more into use in the chemical literature-by the 1860's it was employed exclueively in teaching and in the periodicals designed for reading within Hungary. Literature Cited (1) P ~ n s s T ,J., "Die Selmeeer Bergakademir nls Qehurtst%tte
chemischwissensehaftlicherForschung in Ungarn," Gazet,te nationale, Lopron, No. 8, Vendemiaire, l'an 111, 1938. ( 2 ) JACQUIN, X., "Examen chemicum Doetrinai meyerianae de acido pingui et Blackianae de aero fixo." Vienna, 1769. (3) WESTRUMB, J., "Geschichtederneuentd~cktenMrtallisierung der einfachen Erdarten," Hanover, 1791, p. 10. (4) RUPRECHT, A,, Crelb Chem. Ann., 1790 11, p. 200. ( 5 ) Ibid., 1790 11, pp. 3, 91, 105, 291. (G) KLAPROTH, M. H., C ~ e l l sChem. Ann., 1791 I, 119. (7) M ~ ~ L L E F., R ,"Physik. Arheiten der eintrschtigen Freunde," Vienna, 1783.
. . . the proton and neutron, which were once thought to be elementary particles, are now seen to be highly c m p l e z bodies. It i s almost certain that physicis& will subsepuently investigate the constituent pa& pf the proton and neutron-the mesons of one 8071 07 anothm. What will happen j m m that point on? One can only guess at future problems and fulure progress, but m y personal conviction i s that the search for ever-smaller and ever-more-jtrndamental particles will go on os long as man retains the c w i o ~ i t yhe has always demonstrated. R. F. HOFSTADTER Nobel Price Lecture i n Physics, Dee. 1.961
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