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In Vienna, the name “Gartenbau” is a synonym for a large cinema at Parkring 12 in the style of the 1960s and a guarantee for cinematic highlights. The Viennale has had its main venue here, opposite the city park, since 1973. The resounding name goes back to the k., founded in 1832. k. Horticultural Society, which had its representative company building here from the 1860s.
In the 19th century there was great interest in science, especially in the natural sciences. Numerous well-known institutions, societies and associations were founded that, in addition to research, also had knowledge transfer on their agenda. The Academy of Sciences dates back to 1847. Two years later, in 1849, the k. k. Geological Institute founded. In 1851 the k. k. Central Institute for Meteorology and Earth Magnetism and under the name "Zoological-Botanical Association of Vienna" the now Zoological-Botanical Society in Austria, also known as ZooBot.
The "Association for the Dissemination of Scientific Knowledge" (vulgo: dissemination association), which was founded in 1860, and from 1885 the "Allgemeine Niederösterreichische Volksbildungsverein", which was very active in Vienna, the forerunner institution of the Lower Austrian adult education centers - only had the dissemination of knowledge in the association's statutes.
The aim was to quench the Viennese's thirst for knowledge through public lectures - almost all of which were free. In many cases, speakers presented their topics several times in a slightly modified form.
Back to the Vienna Ringstrasse to the k. k. Horticultural society that offered weekly “popular scientific lectures.” A look at the “Neue Freie Presse” from January 9, 1891 contains details under the “Association News” section. The lectures took place "for the education of the educated public" on Tuesdays - with free admission - at "6 o'clock in the evening in Saale I., Parkring No. 12". The Geological Institute's lectures also took place on Tuesdays in the noble Palais Rasumofsky (Wien-Landstrasse).
In 1891 the series of horticultural lectures began on January 13th with (Ernst) Moriz Kronfeld. He spoke about “The bacteria in the household”. The following week Karl Fritsch followed (“Fundamentals of Plant Anatomy”). On January 27th, Richard Wettstein von Westersheim gave a lecture on "About Amber Trees", and the final lecture on February 3rd, 1891 was given by Günther Beck von Mannagetta; it was about “The Palm Trees”.
Even if there are no live recordings of the events at that time, interesting details about speakers and content can be reconstructed after 135 years. The botanists mentioned here were not strangers to each other, they were about the same age, only Beck von Mannagetta was a few years older.
Ernst Moriz Kronfeld was born in Lemberg, Galicia (today Lviv in the Ukraine) in 1865 and studied botany in Vienna from 1882 (doctorate in 1886). Kronfeld acted at the interface between science and journalism and also wrote about popular topics outside of botany. In 1890 "The New Schönbrunn" was published, a natural history guide (24 pages) about the "Thiergarten" and the "Plant Garden". From 1886 onwards, the young Kronfeld was a regular lecturer at the “ZooBot”. From 1889 we find him on the Parkring at the Horticultural Society. On October 19, 1889, he wrote a feature article about "ant plants" in the "Neue Freie Presse", where Wettstein's lecture from January 16 of that year in the "Dissemination Association" ("On Plants and Ants") is also mentioned.
His topic for the year 1891, presented on January 13th, was one that left no one indifferent: it was about bacteria. In the late summer of 1891, a feature article with the same title appeared in the “Wiener Medizinische Wochenschrift” (No. 36); Part two followed a week later. That's not all, in January 1892 a 15-page booklet was published with the subtitle "Economic Bacteria - Bleeding Bread - Shining Meat - Lactic Bacteria. - Vinegar and Bread Baking Fungus". But this publication did not have good press. The “Rundschau der Pharmaceutischen Presse” (No. 7) picked apart the “13 pages of popular chats about bacteria in general”. The reviewer attested to Kronfeld that he "did not concern himself much or at all with practical bacteriology, but only picked out a few interesting cases from the literature and treated them in a feature section."
Why this criticism, was it plagiarism? This should in no way be assumed by Kronfeld; the presumption of innocence applies. What is certain is that the German botanist Felix von Thümen, who was employed in Klosterneuburg from 1876 at the predecessor institution of the Higher Federal Training Institute for Viticulture and Fruit Growing, had already published a 39-page work with almost the same title, "The Bacteria in Man's Household", in 1884. Maybe she didn't know Kronfeld either. In any case, the topic was not new.
Unlike Karl Fritsch, who was a year older than Kronfeld, he always remained on the side of science, which he tried to present in an understandable way. Journalism was foreign to him, which is not surprising, since his father was the famous meteorologist Karl Fritsch (vice director of the Central Institute for Meteorology and Earth Magnetism), who is considered a pioneer of phenology and plant observation. Fritsch first studied natural sciences in Innsbruck and then in Vienna (doctorate in 1886).
He then came as a trainee to the botanical department (head: Günther Ritter Beck von Mannagetta) of the k. k. Natural History Court Museum. In 1890 he became a demonstrator at the Plant Physiology Institute at the University of Vienna and completed his habilitation as a private lecturer in systematic botany. The further steps in his university career were an a.o. in 1895. Professorship of botany at the University of Vienna and, from the summer semester of 1900, a professorship of botany at the University of Graz. His lecture topics were more academic. On February 14, 1890, he spoke “About the plant system and Darwinism” at the Natural Sciences Association at the University of Vienna. Four days later, on February 18, 1890, he gave a lecture "On the stages of development of the plant kingdom" at the Horticultural Society. On March 2nd he gave a lecture on “On the relationships between animals and plants” for the Lower Austrian General Education Association in Vienna-Währing. Fritsch's name can also be found at "ZooBot", where he spoke several times, including with Kronfeld, on the same evening.
Richard Wettstein Ritter von Westersheim, born in 1863, studied natural sciences and medicine at the University of Vienna from 1881 (doctorate in 1884, habilitation in 1886). Like Fritsch, he pursued a university career. In 1892 he went to Prague and accepted a professorship in botany. In 1899 he returned to Vienna, where he became professor of systematic botany and director of the botanical garden. He was married to Adele Kerner von Marilaun, the daughter of his teacher Anton Kerner von Marilaun, which certainly did not harm his career.
In addition to scientific publications, he was a frequent speaker at ZooBot, where he was secretary from 1885 and would become its president in 1901. On July 6, 1887, he discussed the manuscript "Did Goethe discover the greening of conifer seedlings in the dark?" sent in by Kronfeld.
His topic "About amber trees" at the Horticultural Society on January 27, 1891 was a literature report on the "Monograph of the Baltic Amber Trees" by Hugo Conwentz. On October 16, 1890, the freshly printed large format of the German botanist was presented to scholars in Vienna at the Academy of Sciences.
After Wettstein spoke about amber trees at the Horticultural Society at the end of January 1891, a few days later, on February 4th, he presented the topic again at the "Association for the Dissemination of Scientific Knowledge" with an almost identical title ("About Amber and the Amber Trees"). There is a publication of the same name for the second lecture. It can be considered certain that its content is identical to his statements at the Horticultural Society. But originally it was planned differently. At the end of October 1890 he announced "Tropical Cultivated Plants" in the preview of the popular lectures on February 4, 1891.
Now to Günther Beck from Mannagetta (born 1856). After the Schottengymnasium (Matura 1874) he studied natural sciences at the University of Vienna (doctorate 1878). In the same year he became a trainee and then an assistant at the Botanical Court Cabinet, the forerunner institution of today's Natural History Museum, whose magnificent building on Vienna's Ringstrasse was ceremoniously opened in August 1889. Beck von Mannagetta had made a career at the museum and became curator of botany in 1889. At that time, Karl Fritsch was one of his employees as a volunteer. Naturally, Beck's main task was museum work. One of his early scientific focuses was the flora of southern Bosnia and Herzegovina, which he had studied during a research trip in 1888. On February 27, 1889, he spoke "About the high mountains of southern Bosnia" for the Austria section of the Alpine Club in the premises of the Academy of Sciences. A little later, on March 14th, he did as Wettstein did; he spoke about the same topic again ("On the high mountains of Bosnia and Herzegovina"), this time in the Scientific Club.
He knew how to deal with the issue of palm trees just as efficiently. The first lecture on "The Palms" was on February 3, 1891 in the representative hall of the Horticultural Society; the location was less noble on December 20, 1891 in Vienna-Josefstadt. The public education association invited people to the gymnasium of the community school (Zeltgasse 7), where the custodian spoke “About palm trees”.
Thanks to the monumental Palm House in Schönbrunn, which opened in 1882, palm trees were no longer exotic for Viennese people. They aroused their constant interest. On December 15, 1897, Carl Hassack, a commodity scientist, spoke "On the beauty and benefits of palm trees" at the Association for the Dissemination of Scientific Knowledge. Karl Fritsch followed on February 14, 1899, Valentine's Day, at the Horticultural Society with a lecture "On Palms".
When Fritsch took up his professorship in Graz, he took the topic with him. The Grazer Volksblatt from February 9, 1901 states: "Natural Science Association: Lecture by Prof. Dr. Karl Fritsch on 'Palm trees and their significance for the inhabitants of the tropics', in lecture hall VIII of the Technical University, 6 o'clock in the evening."
The repeated presentation of a topic is definitely a positive thing. It saved the speaker's resources and offered those who were unable to attend the first appointment a second chance for further training. (Thomas Hofmann, January 16, 2026)