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THE GERMAN LANGUAGE PRESS IN TEMESWARER BANAT AND THE HABSBURG’S IDEOLOGIES and Eduard Themak. The association’s activity included meteorological observations, observations regarding plant development, the analysis of drinking water from Temeswar and artesian water from Union Square, the Temes County land analysis, the exploration of unknown caves from the Banat region, mineralogy studies, the cataloging of birds of prey within the region, ethnographic studies, especially regarding the Swabian and Bulgarian population from the region, and geographical studies upon the Banat mountains. The association owned a natural sciences museumand a library containing 1,506 specialized books, among which were 643 medicine books, 170 physics books, 152 chemistry books, 140 natural sciences books, and 85 mathematics books. It also published a magazine, The South Hungarian Association of Natural Sciences, which registered 248 members, including 93 medics, 41 pharmacists, 27 professors and teachers, 18 lawyers and judges, 17 functionaries, and 16 producers and traders.*® During the years 1860-1900, the interests of the society headed towards the introduction of technical experiments that could be accomplished relatively easy in Temeswar. The town and county dignitaries were responsive to renewal and invited prestigious Western societies to put into practice the experiments of local technicians and scientists. As innovations on a regional or European scale, Timisoara promoted electrical street lighting, an urban telephone network, and electric trams.” The small industry and the craftsmen only satisfied the local needs. The agriculture had technical and production problems in all the Banatian villages. There was a crisis of capital, and the general situation was not encouraging. A way out from this situation was the specialized industrial education, offering the chance of urbanization for a segment of the peasantry, as well as the possibility of industrial development.” There were fields of small craftsmen that disappeared or declined at the end of the 19" century. The craftsmen corporation of Temeswar and Pancevo tried to function by creating craftsmen production cooperatives, but could not succeed because of the great competition. The economic renewals triggered important social transformations. With the occasion of celebrating a millennium of the founding of the Hungarian kingdom, Temeswar organized a great international fair. Among the participants there were workshops and small enterprises from Temeswar and the whole Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. These included Anton Petrof’s piano manufactory, displaying all classes of pianos, with Viennese and English ‘8 Die 25 Jährige Tätigkeit der “Südungarischen Naturwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft 1874 bis 1899” in Temeswarer Zeitung, No. 68, 1899, 2-3. Zoltän Szäsz: Manchester-ul ungar. Dezvoltarea Timisoarei moderne (The Hungarian Manchester. The Development of Modern Timisoara), in Nändor Bärdi (ed.): Transilvania vazuta in publicistica istorica maghiard (Transylvania Seen by the Hungarian Historical Press), Miercurea-Ciuc, Pro Print Publishing House, 1999, 244-245. Das Kleingewerbe Siidungarns, Temeswarer Zeitung, No. 20, 1899, 6. 49 * 167 +
