Abstract

The Naturforschende Gesellschaft (NFG) of Jena, founded in 1793, became instrumental for the development of the sciences in Jena in this period. New experimental facilities, new organizational structures and new scientific topics such as antiphlogistic chemistry and galvanism were introduced into Jena via the NFG. An investigation of the letters that were sent to the NFG shows, 1., how important the NFG was for the reception of these new results and for transmitting them to a wider audience; 2., how scientists, both in Germany and abroad, tried to establish a network for scientific communication via the NFG, and 3., how personal contacts between scientists and how various forms of written exchange interrelate in the activities of the NFG. The letters to the NFG, therefore, show how, in the period around 1800; smaller scientific organizations such as the NFG managed to form a focus for scientific research and scientific exchange, with these societies being particularly important for the reception of the, by the time, latest developments in science.