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The Society of German Natural Scientists and Physicians, the oldest German scientific association, founded in 1822, has held annual meetings for scientific exchange for almost 200 years. Naturally, they mostly take place in Germany, but also in the surrounding neighboring countries. To date, eleven meetings have been held in Austria: 1831, 1856, 1913 and 1966 in Vienna, 1843 and 1843 in Graz, 1869, 1924 and 1978 in Innsbruck and 1881 and 1909 in Salzburg.
The 1831 conference in Vienna: canceled due to cholera
The very first conference in Austria, which Count Kaspar Sternberg (1761–1838) brought to Vienna, could not be held on time. At first everything started well; Emperor Franz I (1768–1835) had granted the wish to be able to hold the 10th meeting of the Scholars' Association in Vienna with his highest resolution of December 15, 1829. The two natural scientists Josef Franz Freiherr von Jacquin (1766–1839) and the astronomer Johann Littrow (1781–1840) took over the management. The invitation, the First Circular as we would say today, was sent on May 31, 1831. The event was scheduled for September 19th to 27th, 1831. Doch am 24. August 1831 musste man zurückrudern, die in Europa grassierende Cholera hatte Wien erreicht.
The 1831 session becomes the 1832 session
Cholera all but disappeared over the winter of 1831-32, but it returned in the spring of 1832. Cholera claimed 2,188 lives in 4,362 cases among the Viennese population, which at the time numbered 330,000 people. Nevertheless, a new invitation to the natural scientists' meeting was issued on June 12, 1832. The new date was set for September 18th to 27th, 1832. In addition to meetings with lectures, there were also evening invitations and excursions. On September 22nd, the scholars were invited to a soirée by "Mr. Prince von Metternich" in the house, court and state chancellery, where they were "received most brilliantly and graciously."
The next day there was an excursion with 39 four-horse mail carriages to Baden near Vienna. Here, among other things, the Rolett art and natural history collection as well as the baths were visited. On the 25th, a Tuesday, we went to Laxenburg. The emperor had invited people to a luncheon; The researchers arrived in 75 express mail vans and went to the board at 4 a.m. (!). 450 place settings were available in three long rows of tables, with the "feyered Strauss" (Johann Strauß Vater, 1804–1849) playing to "enliven the guests' enjoyment".
Metternich's suggestion: uniform color scheme
The third session of the assembly on September 24th focused on geological topics. Incidentally, Metternich (1773–1859) personally took part here. He was not only a listener, but also contributed ideas, for example he suggested a uniform color scheme for geognostic [=geological] maps. A result should be presented at the next meeting in Wroclaw. That wasn't the case. In 1850, the German geologist Bernhard Cotta (1808–1878) summed up: "It would be very good if certain principles had been agreed upon from the time when geognostic maps began to be colored. Unfortunately, that did not happen, and now it is probably too late for that."
Despite this, in 1898 the k. k. Geological Reichsanstalt, the predecessor institution of today's Geological Federal Institute, published "a color scheme for the publication by the Imperial and Royal Geological Reichsanstalt of certain leaf groups of the special geological map of the kingdoms and countries of the Austro-Hungarian Empire represented in the Reichsrate". (Thomas Hofmann, March 16, 2020)