[An overestimated technician - Leonardo da Vinci].

The reasons are discussed why Leonardo da Vinci is being overestimated as engineer and inventor, although the majority of his drawings concerning engineering are not beyond the level of contemporary engineering knowledge and he never attempted to carry out those which would have been novel in fact.

[Lecturers in chemistry at the Medical Faculty of the University of Nagyszombat].

After a short introduction on the development of the medieval universities at Pécs, Obuda, and Pozsony, and mentioning those who lectured in medicine in Hungary, the authors emphasise that modern chemistry was born during the 16th and 17th century. They stress the role of Paracelsus who invented iatro-chemistry, and that the first independent chairs, were founded in Germany in the beginning of 17th century at Altdorf, Marburg, Jéna, but were followed suit by Paris, when the Jardin des Plantes were erected. The first chemical textbook, the Cours de Chimie (Paris 1665), was also the work of a Frenchman, namely Nicolas Lémery (1645-1715).

On the invention of conductimetric titration.

In contrast to the earlier statement of one of the authors according to which conductimetric titration was invented by Küster and Grüters in 1903, it is shown that Ostwald made use of this analytical method as early as the nineties of the past century. Prior to Ostwald's work, however, papers appeared in which conductimetric curves were shown, with statements about their different characteristics in the case of reaction between weak and strong acids and bases. The first of these seems to be due to Kohlrausch [together with one of his co-workers, Kreichgauer (1885)].