r«?*art???&3r'
var.:
&5*
:.'i-^;lV:..v/L.v..>.v  . ;


 ■;ir.wv.'-;l'*-V-'-'«>"- ■'- >
 "-V.T '* **■. .V.W- -'■  .■-'.
hi- - -. ■*■ ►'- • '• ■•» •,'••. .■  -
 


>---:.
A   ^@j   £L

SURGEON GENERAL'S OFFICE
   LIBRARY.
Section
S. G. 0.
J.43/XL

■r*  i  N
N, 3

 
x '  i/''  .   /  to

^   v     ' V

3T
' —!W'

/.V\  <*/„
■ \  ^sO

 
 
                                1L9?-
               /

         ADDRESS          ^

             DELIVERED ON

    THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY

             OF THE BIRTH OF

ALEXANDER VON  HUMBOLDT,

          UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE

  BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY,
I
LOUIS AGASSIZ.
WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE EVENING RECEPTION.
!   LIBRARY
i L-'JSGEOI» GENERAL'S OFFiCt
       !    /9
BOSTON:  — —/■
JUKL—S.-1905
BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY.
             1869. 
Vs/7.
University Press : Welch, Bigelow, & Co.,
             Cambridge. 
ADDRESS.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : —
   I  am invited to an  unwonted task.  Thus  far
I  have  appeared  before  the  public  only  as  a
teacher of Natural History.  To-day, for the first
time  in  my  life, I leave a  field in which  I am
at  home, to  take upon myself the duties  of a
biographer.   If  I  succeed  at  all,  it  will  be
because  I   so   loved   and  honored   the  man
whose memory brings  us together.
   Alexander  von Humboldt  was  born in Berlin
in  1769, —  one  hundred  years ago this day, —
in  that  fertile  year  which  gave  birth to  Na-
poleon,  Wellington,  Canning,   Cuvier,  Chateau-
briand, and   so  many  other  remarkable   men.
All  America was  then  the  property of  Euro-
pean   monarchs.   The  first  throb  of  the Amer-
ican Revolution  had  not yet disturbed  the  rela-
tions   of  the mother  country  and her  colonies.
Spain  held  Florida,   Mexico,  and  the  greater
part of  South America;  France owned  Louisi-
ana;   and all  Brazil  was tributary to  Portugal. 
                       4

What  stupendous   changes  have   taken  place
since  that  time in  the  political world!   Divine
right  of  possession was   then  the  recognized
law  on   which  governments  were  based.   A
mighty  Republic has since been born, the fun-
damental  principle  of which  is  self-government.
Progress  in  the  intellectual world,  the  world of
thought,  has  kept   pace with   the   advance  of
civil liberty;  reference  to  authority  has   been
superseded by free  inquiry;  and  Humboldt  was
one of the  great  leaders  in  this onward  move-
ment.   He  has  bravely  fought  the  battle for
independence  of thought against the  tyranny of
authority.   No  man impressed his century intel-
lectually  more  powerfully,  perhaps  no man  so
powerfully  as  he.   Therefore  he is  so  dear to
the Germans,  with  whom  many nations unite to
do him  honor to-day.  Nor is  it  alone  because of
what  he has  done  for science,  or  for  any  one
department  of research, that  we  feel  grateful to
him, but  rather because   of  that  breadth  and
comprehensiveness of knowledge which lifts  whole
communities   to  higher  levels  of  culture,  and
impresses itself upon the  unlearned  as well as
upon  students and  scholars.
  To  what  degree  we  Americans  are indebted
to him, no  one  knows who is not  familiar with
the  history  of  learning  and  education in  the 
5
last  century.   All  the  fundamental  facts of pop-
ular education  in   physical  science,  beyond  the
merest  elementary  instruction,  we  owe  to  him.
We  are reaping  daily  in every  school  through-
out  this"  broad land,  where  education  is  the
heritage even  of the  poorest child,  the intellec.
tual harvest sown  by him.   See this map of  the
United  States; — all  its  important traits are based
upon his  investigations;  for  he first  recognized
the  essential  relations  which unite  the  physical
features of the  globe, the  laws of climate on which
the whole  system of isothermal lines  is based, the
relative  height  of  mountain  chains  and table-
lands, the  distribution of vegetation  over the whole
earth.   There   is not  a  text-book  of  geography
or  a school-atlas in the  hands  of  our  children
to-day  which   does  not  bear,  however  blurred
and  defaced,  the  impress  of  his  great  mind.
But for  him   our   geographies would  be mere
enumerations  of localities and statistics.   He  first
suggested  the  graphic  methods  of  representing
natural  phenomena which  are  now  universally
adopted.   The first geological  sections, the  first
sections across  an  entire  continent,  the  first aver-
ages of climate illustrated by lines, were his.  Every
school-boy is familiar with his methods now, but he
does not know that Humboldt is his teacher.  The
fertilizing  power of  a  great mind  is  truly won-
                 1* 
}
derful;  but as we  travel farther  from the source,
it is hidden  from  us by the  very  abundance
and   productiveness  it  has  caused.   How few
remember  that the tidal  lines, the  present  mode
of registering  magnetic  phenomena  and  oceanic
currents, are  but  the  application of  Humboldt's
researches, and of  his  graphic mode  of recording
them !
  This  great  man was a feeble  child, and  had
less   facility in  his studies  than  most  children.
For  this reason his early  education was intrusted
to  private  teachers, his  parents  being  wealthy,
and  of  a  class  whose  means and  position  com-
mand the  advantages denied  to  so  many.  It  is
worthy  of note  that  when  he was  a little fel-
low  not more than  seven years  old, his  teacher
was   Campe,  author  of  the  German  Robinson
Crusoe.   We  can fancy how  he  amused  the boy
with  the  ever fresh  story  of  Crusoe on  his des-
ert island, and inspired  him  even at  that  early
age  with  the  passionate love of  travel  and  ad-
venture which was to  bear   such fruit  in  later
years.   Neither should  we  omit, in recalling  mem-
ories  of his  childhood,  his  tender relation to  his
older brother  William.   These two  brothers,  so
renowned  in their  different departments of learn-
ing,— the  elder  as  statesman and philologist, the
younger as  a  student   of nature, — were united 
i
from  their  earliest  years by  an intimate  sympa-
thy which grew with  their growth and  strength-
ened  with  their  strength.   They  went  together
to the  University of Frankfort, the younger being
then   seventeen,  William   nineteen.  After  two
years  at  Frankfort  they  went  to  the University
of  Gottingen,  where  they  passed the  two  fol-
lowing  years.   In   these  four  pregnant  years
of student  life Alexander  already sketched  the
plans  which  occupied  his active  mind  for more
than threescore years  and ten.
  The  character  of the German  universities  is
so different  from  ours,  that a word upon  his stu-
dent  life  may  not  be  out  of  place here.  Un-
trammelled  by  prescription  and  routine,  every
branch  of learning was  open  to   him.   Instead
of being led through a prescribed course of study,
an  absolute  freedom of  selection  in  accordance
with  his  natural predilections  was allowed  him.
The  effect of this is felt through  his whole  life  ;
there was  a universality, a comprehensiveness  in
his  culture, which could not  be  obtained under
a less  liberal  system  of education.
  Leaving the  University at  the  age  of  twenty-
one,  he began  to  make  serious preparations  for
the great  journeys  toward which   all his hopes
tended.   Nothing  has  impressed   me  more,  in
reviewing  Humboldt's   life, than   the  harmony 
8
between  the  aspirations of  his  youth  and  the
fulfilment of his riper age.    A  letter  to Pfaff,
written in  his  twenty-fourth  year,  contains  the
first outline of  the  Cosmos;  its last sheets  were
forwarded to  the publisher in his ninetieth  year,
two  months before his death.  He had thus  been
an original  investigator for nearly seventy years.
  His  first  journey after  leaving the University
was  important  rather  for the circumstances under
which  it  was made  than  for any  local  interest.
He  went  to the Rhine  with  Georg  Forster,  who
had  accompanied  Cook  in  his  second  journey
round  the  world.   He could  hardly  have  been
thrown with  any  one  more  likely to  stimulate
his  desire to travel than this man,  who  had vis-
ited the  South Seas, had  seen  the  savages  of
the  Pacific  Islands,  and had  made  valuable  con-
tributions to  geographical  science.   Nor was  this
their only  point of  sympathy.    Georg  Forster
was  a warm  republican ;   he  had  espoused the
ideas of the French  Revolution,  and  when  May-
ence became  united to the  French  Republic  he
was  sent as  deputy  to the National  Assembly
in  Paris.   Humboldt  was  too  ardent  and  too
independent to  be  a laggard in the  great public
questions of the  day.  Like  Forster,  he  also be-
lieved  in  the  Republic of France  and in  the  dawn
of civil liberty  for Europe.  Thus, both in  political 
9
and  scientific preferences, although so different in
age, he  and  Forster  were sympathetic  travelling
companions.   This  excursion was by no  means
a  pleasure  trip.   Young  as he  was, Humboldt
had  knowledge enough to justify him in approach-
ing  the  most difficult geological  question  of  the
day,  namely,  the  origin  of  the  Basalt.   At
that  time  the  great  war was  waging  between
the  Neptunists  and Plutonists, — that is, between
the  two great  schools  in Geology, — one  attrib-
uting  the  rocks  to   fire as   the  great  construc-
tive  agent,  the  other  asserting  that  all  rocks
were the result of water deposits.   The  young
student  brought  to  these   subjects  the truthful-
ness  and  patience  which marked  all  his later
investigations.   Carried  away neither by theories
nor  by leaders, he left  in abeyance  the problem
which seemed to him not yet solved.  His  in-
terest  in this  and  kindred   topics  carried  him
to  Freiberg,  where   he   studied   Geology  with
Werner,  and  where   he  made  acquaintance with
Leopold  von  Buch,  who became   the  greatest
geologist  of  the age, and was through life  his
trusted friend.  He  also  applied himself  to  Anat-
omy  and Physiology, and made  physical investi-
gations on  the irritability of the muscular fibre,
which  he   afterwards extended  to  the  electric
fishes,  during his American  journey. 
10
  All  the  while  he  brooded  over  his  schemes
of travel, gathering materials in every direction,
in order  that his mind  might  be  prepared  to
understand Nature in  all her aspects.  His  desires
turned  especially  toward  India.    He  wished  to
visit the East, and, reaching India by way of Egypt5
Syria, and Persia,  to  cross the  Pacific and  return
to Europe through America.   In this he was foiled;
but to his latest day he felt  the same longing for
a  sight  of  that  antique  ground  of  civilization.
At this  moment  all  Europe  was in  a blaze; be-
tween  contending  armies  there  was  little room
for  peaceful  travel  and  investigation.  We find
him,  therefore,  floating  between  various  plans.
He  went  to  Paris  with  the hope  of  joining
Baudin's contemplated  expedition to Australia.  In
this  he was  again baffled, for the breaking  out
of  the war   between  France  and  Austria  post-
poned  the   undertaking  indefinitely.   His  next
hope was Spain; he might  obtain permission to
visit  her  Transatlantic  possessions   and  study
tropical  nature  under  the  equator.  Here  he
was  successful.   The  scientific   discoverer  of
America, as   the  Germans like to call him, was
destined to  start  from  the same  shore as  Chris-
topher   Columbus.   He  not  only  received  per-
mission  to   visit  the  colonies, but special  facil-
ities  for his  investigations   were  offered  him. 
11
This  liberality  was unexampled  on  the  part  of
the  Spanish government,  for  in  those  days Spain
guarded  her colonies  with jealous exclusiveness.
His  enthusiasm  disarmed suspicion, however,  and
the  king cordially  sustained  his undertaking.
   Almost ten years had  passed in maturing  his
plans, preparing himself for  their  execution  and
obtaining the means  of carrying  them  out.   He
was   nearly  thirty  years  of  age when he  sailed
from the harbor of  Corunna, running out  in a
dark and stormy night, and so  evading  the  Eng-
lish   cruisers  which  then  blockaded  the  Spanish
coast.
  There is  perhaps  no  part of Humboldt's  life
better  known  to  the  public,  especially in  this
country,  than his  American  journey.   His fasci-
nating "Personal Narrative" is known  to all,  and
I need  not, therefore, describe his course, or dwell
upon the details of  his personal experience.   No
period of his life, however, has  had a  more  pow-
erful influence  upon  knowledge  and  education
than  those  five  years of  travel, and   therefore I
will  speak at some length  of their  scientific  re-
sults.  In the very glory of  his  youth, and  yet
with  an  intellectual  maturity which   belongs  to
later  manhood,  his physical  activity  and  endur-
ance  kept pace with the  fertility and  comprehen-
siveness of his mind.  Never was the old proverbial 
12
wish,  " Si jeunesse savait, si  vieillesse pouvait," so
near fulfilment; never were  the strength  of youth
and  the knowledge  of age  so closely  combined.
  At   the   first  step  of   the journey,  namely,
his  pause  at the  Canary  Islands  and   ascension
of  the Peak  of  Teneriffe, he has left  us  a
graphic  picture   of  the  place, of   its   volcanic
phenomena,  its geological character,  and  the  dis-
tribution of its  vegetation, in  which   are  fore-
shadowed all his later generalizations.    Landing
in Cumana  he  made his  first long station  there.
His  explorations  of  the  mountains,  valleys,  and
sea-shore  in  that neighborhood,  his  geological
researches, his astronomical  observations  by which
the exact  position of  various  localities   was  de-
termined,  his meteorological  investigations,  and
his  collections of  every  kind,  were of vast scien-
tific  importance.   He had   already  begun  his
studies upon averages of  climate,   the  result  of
which, known as the " isothermal lines," was one of
his most original  contributions  to science.   With
the  intuition of genius  he  saw  that the distri-
bution  of  temperature obeyed certain laws.   He
collected, both from  his own observation  and from
report, all  that  could be learned  of the  average
temperatures in various localities,  and  combining
all  these facts he  first  taught  geographers  how
to  trace  upon   their maps  those  curves  which 
13
give  in  one  undulating line  the varying  aspects
of  climate  upon  the whole  globe.   His  physical
experiments  upon  animals  and  plants,  and his
collections  were  also  of  great  value.   At  Paris
he  had   made  the  acquaintance  of Bonpland,  a
young  botanist, equally determined with  himself
to  see  distant  lands,  who  accompanied him  in
his journey to  South  America ;  and  when Hum-
boldt  was  too   exclusively  engaged  in  physical
experiments  to join  in the  botanical  researches,
they  were nevertheless not  neglected,  for  Bon-
pland  was  unremitting in  the  study  of plants
and in  making collections.
  After  months thus  spent  in  the neighborhood
of  the  coast, Humboldt crossed  the  Llanos, the
great  plains  which   divide  the   basin  of  the
Orinoco  from  the  sea-shore.   Here  again every
step of  his journey  is marked  by  original re-
search.    He  has  turned  those desert  plains into
enchanted  land  by  the  power  of his  thought,
and  left   us   descriptions,  as   fascinating  from
their   beauty  as   they  are  valuable  for  their
novelty  and  precision.   In  his  long and painful
journey  through  the  valley  of  the  Orinoco he
traced the singular  network  of  rivers  by which
this great stream  connects,  through   the Cassi-
quiare and the Rio  Negro, with the  Amazons,—
a fresh-water route  which  is, no  doubt,  yet  to
                2 
14
become  one  of   the  highways   of  the   world.
Had  it  not  been   for  the  illiberally  of  the
Portuguese   government,   he  would   probably
have  gone  down  the Rio  Negro  to  the Ama-
zons,  and  would perhaps   have  changed  com-
pletely  the  course  which  he  ultimately  took.
He was, however,  turned back  from the  mighty
river  by  a prohibition  which made  it  danger-
ous to  proceed  farther on  pain  of  imprisonment
and  the  possible  renunciation  of  all  his  cher-
ished  plans.   When,  in  my  late exploration  of
the  Amazonian   Valley,  I   read  his  narrative
again, on  the spot,  I  could not  but  contrast
the   cordial  liberality  which  smoothed  every
difficulty in my  path  with  the  dangers, obsta-
cles,   and  suffering  which  beset   his.   I  ap-
proached,  however,   so  near the  scene   of  his
labors that  I was  constantly  able   to compare
my results with  his,  and  to  recognize  the extent
of his  knowledge  and  the  comprehensiveness of
his views, even where the progress  of  science led
to a  different interpretation of the facts.
   I  omit all  notice of his  visit  to  Cuba,  and
his journey through Mexico, interesting  as  they
were, remarking only that  to  him  we owe the
first  accurate  maps of those  regions.    So im-
 perfect  were  those  published  before  him,  that
 even  towards the  close  of the  last  century the 
15
position  of  Mexico differed  by about  three hun-
dred  miles  in  the  maps  published  by  different
geographers.   Humboldt's  is  the   first   general
map  of  Mexico  and  Cuba  based  upon   astro-
nomical  observations.
  The next great stage of the American journey
is along the ridge  of the Andes.  There  is a pic-
turesque  charm  about  this  part  of  the  under-
taking  which is  irresistible.   At that  time trav-
elling in  those   mountains  was  infinitely more
difficult  than  it  is now.  We follow  him with
his   train  of  mules,  bearing  the  most   delicate
instruments,  the  most  precious   scientific  appa-
ratus,  through  the  passes  of the great  chain
Measuring the mountains, — sounding  the valleys
as he went, — tracing the  distribution  of vegeta-
tion  on slopes 20,000 feet high, — examining ex-
tinct and active  volcanoes, — collecting  and  draw-
ing  animals  and plants, — he  brought  away  an
incredible amount  of  information which has since
filtered into  all  our scientific records, remodelled
popular   education,  and  become  the   common
property  of the civilized world.   Many  of these
ascensions were  attended  with  infinite  danger
and  difficulty.  He  climbed the Chimborazo to  a
height  of 18,000 feet  at a  time when no other
man had ever  ascended so far above the level  of
the  sea, and was  only  prevented  from  reaching 
16
the  summit by an  impassable  chasm,  in  which
he  nearly  lost  his   life.   When,  a  few  years
later, Gay-Lussac  made his  famous  ascent  in  a
balloon,  for  the  sake  of   studying   atmospheric
phenomena,  he  rose  only  1,200  feet   higher*
Returning;  from  the  Andes,  Humboldt skirted the
Pacific  from Truxillo to Acapulco, and  paused in
Mexico  again.  There he  ascended  all  the great
mountains   in  the neighborhood,  continuing  and
completing  the same investigations which he  had
pursued  with  such   persistency  through  his
whole   laborious  journey.   He  studied   volcanic
action,  mines,  the production  of  precious  metals,
their influence upon  civilization  and  commerce,
latitudes   and  longitudes,  averages  of  climate,
relative  heights  of  mountains,  distribution  of
vegetation,  astronomical  and  meteorological  phe-
nomena.  From  Mexico  he  went  to  Havana, and
from Havana  sailed  for  Philadelphia.   His  stay
in  this country  was  short.   He  was   cordially
received  by  Jefferson  on   his visit  to  Washing-
ton, and warmly  welcomed by scientific men  in
Philadelphia.    But  he  made  no  important re-

  * The  ascension of Mont  Blanc by  De  Saussure was  the only
exploit of that  kind on record before.  Even as" late as 1842 the as-
cent of the Jungfrau attracted some attention.  Nowadays tourists
may run  up the highest summits of  the Alps to drink the  health
of their friends. 
17
searches  in  the  United  States,  and  sailed   for
Europe soon  after  his  arrival.
  He  returned  to  Paris  in  1804,  having  been
five  years absent  from Europe.  It was  a brilliant
period in science, letters, and politics in the great
capital.  The  Republic was  still in existence ; the
throes  of  the  Revolution   were  over,  and  the
reaction  toward   monarchical  ideas  had  not yet
culminated  in the  Empire.    Laplace, Gay-Lussac,
Cuvier,  Desfontaines,  Delambre,  Oltmanns, Four-
croy,  Berthollet,  Biot, Dolomieu,  Lamarck,  and
Lacepede   were  leaders   then   in  the   learned
world.  The young traveller,  bringing  intellectual
and   material  treasures even  to   men  who   had
grown  old in research,  was welcomed   by  all,
and  in this great  centre of  social  and  intellec-
tual   life  he made  his  home  for  the  most  part,
from  1805   to   1827;  from the last  days of
the  Republic,  through  the  rise  and fall  of the
Empire,  to  the   restoration  of  the  Bourbons.
He  devoted   himself  to  the publication  of  his
results, and  secured  as his  collaborators  in  this
work  the ablest  men  of  the  day.  Cuvier, La-
treille,  and Valenciennes worked  up  the  zoologi-
cal   collections,  Bonpland  and   Kunth  directed
the  publication  of  the  botanical  treasures,  Olt-
manns undertook  the reduction of the  astronomi-
cal  and  barometrical observations, while  he  him-
                2* 
18
self jointly with  Gay-Lussac and  Provencal  made
investigations  upon  the  respiration of  fishes and
upon  the  chemical  constitution  of  the  atmos-
phere and the composition  of water, which have
left  their  mark  in  the  annals  of  chemistry.
While  of  course  superintending  more  or less
all  the  publications,  Humboldt  himself was  en-
gaged  especially  with those  upon physical  geog-
raphy, meteorology,  and geology.  The mere enu-
meration  of  the  volumes  resulting  from  this
great expedition  is impressive.  It embraces three
folio volumes of geographical, physical,  and  bo-
tanical  maps, including  scenery,  antiquities, and
the  aboriginal races; twelve   quarto  volumes  of
letter-press,   three   of  which  contain  the  per-
sonal narrative,  two are  devoted to New  Spain,
two to  Cuba, two  to  zoology  and  comparative
anatomy, two to astronomy, and one to a  physical
description of the  tropics.  The  botanical results
of  the journey  oocupy not  less than  thirteen
folio  volumes, ornamented with   magnificent  col-
ored  plates.   As  all   these  works are  in  our
Public  Library  in  Boston,  I would  invite  my
hearers to a  real  intellectual treat and  a grati-
fication  of their aesthetic tastes, in  urging them
to  devote  some leisure  hour  to  turning over
the leaves   of  these  magnificent  volumes.   A
walk through the hot-houses  of the largest   bo- 
19
tanical  garden — and  unfortunately  we  have  no
such  on  this continent — could hardly  be  more
impressive than  an  examination  of these  beau-
tiful  plates.   Add  to  these  a  special  work  on
the  position  of  rocks in  the  two  hemispheres,
one   on  the  isothermal  lines, his  innumerable
smaller  papers,   and  lastly,  five   volumes  on
the  history  of  geography and  the  progress  of
nautical astronomy during the fifteenth  and six-
teenth  centuries,  more    or  less.  directly  con-
nected  with   Humboldt's  own journey,  though
published in  later years.  His investigations into
the  history of the  discovery of America  have  a
special  interest for us.  We learn  from  him  that
the  name of our  continent  was  first  introduced
into   the  learned  world by  Waltzeemuller,   a
German professor, settled  at St.  Didie, in  Lor-
raine,— Hylacomylus, as  he  called  himself, at  a
time  when  scholars were wont to  translate their
names  into the  dead languages, and thought  it
more dignified to appear under a  Greek or  Latin
garb.  This cosmographer published  the  first  map
of the New World, with  an account  of  the jour-
neys  of Americus  Vespucci,  whose  name  he af-
fixed to  the  lands  recently discovered.   Hum-
boldt shows  -us,  also,  that  Columbus's  discovery
was  no  accident, but grew naturally out  of the
speculations of the  time, themselves  the  echo of 
20
a far-off dream, which he  follows back into  the
dimness  of  Grecian   antiquity.   We   recognize
again  here the  characteristic  features  of   Hum-
boldt's mind,  in  his constant  endeavor to  trace
discoveries  through all the  stages of  their pro-
gress.
  Although he  made   his  head-quarters  in  Paris,
it  became necessary  for  Humboldt,  during  the
preparation of so  many  extensive works, to  un-
dertake journeys  in various  parts of Europe; to
examine and  re-examine Vesuvius,  and  compare
its   mode  of  action,   its  geological  constitution,
and  the phenomena of its  eruptions  with  what
he  had seen  of  the volcanoes of South America.
On  one  of these  occasions he ascended Vesuvius
in company  with  Gay-Lussac and   Leopold  von
Buch.   That  single   excursion,   undertaken   by
such  men,  was  fruitful in  valuable  additions to
knowledge.   At  other times he went  to con-
sult  rare  books  in the  great  libraries of Ger-
many   and  England,  or  to  discuss  with   his
brother  in Berlin,  or with  trusted  friends  in
other  parts of  Europe, the   work  in   which  he
was  engaged, comparing  notes,  assisting  at new
experiments,  suggesting  further  inquiries,  ever
active,  ever  inventive,   ever   suggestive,   ever
fertile  in   resource, — neither disturbed  by  the
great  political commotions   which  he  witnessed, 
21
nor  tempted from his engrossing  labors  by the
most brilliant  offers  of public  service or  exalted
position.   It  was  during  one  of  his first  visits
to Berlin, where  he  went  to  consult about the
organization  of the University  with his  brother
William,  then  minister  of state  in Prussia,  that
he published those fascinating " Views of Nature,"
in which  he •  has given   pictures of the  tropics
as vivid  and  as  exciting' to  the  imagination  as
if they   lived  on  the  canvas  of  some  great.
artist.
  The  question   naturally  arises,  Who   provided
for   the  expenses  of  these  extensive literary un-
dertakings?— Humboldt  himself.  No  one  knows
exactly  what  he  has spent  in  the publication
of his  works.   Some  approach to  an estimate  may,
however, be  made  by  computing  the  cost  of
printing,  paper, and engraving, which cannot  have
amounted to less  than two hundred and fifty thou-
sand dollars.  No  doubt the sale indemnified him
in some  degree,  but  all know  that such  publica-
tions do  not pay.   The price of a single  copy  of
the  complete  work  on  America  is  two  thousand
dollars, — double  that of  the great  national work
published by France upon Egypt, for the  publica-
tion  of  which the government spent about eight
hundred  thousand dollars.   Of  course  very few
copies can be  sold of a  work  of this magnitude. 
22
But from  his  youth upward Humboldt  spent  his
private means  liberally, not  only for the carry-
ing  out and  subsequent publication  of   his own
scientific undertakings, but  to forward  the  work
of younger and poorer men.    The  consequence
was  that in old age he  lived upon a small pen-
sion granted to him by the  King  of  Prussia.
  His many-sidedness was remarkable.   He touched
life  at all points.   He was  the  friend of  ar-
tists,  no   less  than  of scientific  and   literary
men.   His desire to make his illustrations worthy
of  the  great   objects  they  were  to  represent
brought  him  into constant  and  intimate relation
with  the   draughtsmen  and  painters  of  his day.
Even David  did not  think  it below  his  dignity
to  draw   an   allegoric  title-page  for  the great
work.   He valued   equally  the   society of  in-
telligent and  cultivated women, such  as Madame
de  Stael,  Madame Recamier,  Rahel,  Bettina, and
many others less known to fame.  He was intimate
with statesmen, politicians, and men of the world.
Indeed, the familiarity  of Humboldt with the nat-
ural  resources  of the  countries he  had visited,—
with their  mineral products and precious  metals, —
made his opinion valuable not only in matters of
commerce, but important also to the governments of
Europe;  and after the colonies of South  America
had achieved their independence, the allied powers 
23
of Europe  invited  him  to  make  a report upon
the  political   condition  of  the  new  republics.
In  1822  he  attended  the  Congress of  Verona,
and  visited the  South  of  Italy  with  the King
of Prussia.    Thus  his  life  was  associated  with
the  political   growth  and  independence   of  the
New  World,   as  it  was  intimately  allied  with
the  literary,   scientific,   and artistic  interests  of
the  Old.   He  never,  however,  took  an  active
part in  politics  at  home,  and  yet  all Germany
looked  upon   him  as  identified  with  the  aspi-
rations   of  the  liberal  party,  of  which  his
brother  William was  the  most  prominent  repre-
sentative.
   Before  closing this period of  Humboldt's  life
I would add   a  few words  more   in detail upon
the works  published  by  him  after  his  return
from  South America.    One of  the  first fruits in
the rich harvest reaped from this  expedition  was
the successful attempt  to  which  I  have  already
alluded at  representing graphically  the  physical
features  of that continent.    Thus  far  such rep-
resentations  had mainly consisted  in maps  and
the  delineation  of the characteristic  plants  and
animals.  Humboldt  devised a new method, equally
impressive to  the  eye  and comprehensive  in  its
outlines.   Impressed  by the fact that vegetation
changes   its  character   as  it  ascends  upon  the 
24
side  of high mountains, — thus presenting  succes-
sive  terraces upon  their slopes,— he conceived  the
idea, already suggested by his examination of the
Peak of Teneriffe,  of drawing  upon  the  outline
of a conical mountain  the different  aspects of
its   surface   from  the level  of  the  sea  to   its
highest    peak.    Thus   he  could   exhibit   at
a  glance  all  those  successive  zones  of  vege-
tation,  represented   upon  the  diagram  before
you,  and  drawn   by   him  at   Guayaquil   in
1803.   It  is  copied  from  his   work   on  the
physical   aspect  of  the  tropics  and   the  geo-
graphical  distribution  of  plants.   (Explanations
from the   diagram.)    Afterwards   he  extended
these comparisons  to  the  temperate  and  arctic
zones, and ascertained that,  as we proceed  further
north,  the  gradation  of  the vegetation,  at  the
level of  the  ocean,  corresponds  to  its  succes-
sion  upon mountain  slopes, — until,  towards  the
Arctics, it assumes  a remarkable resemblance to
the  plants   found   near  the  line  of  perpetual
snows  under  the Tropics.   But  this  is  not  all.
The  intervening  expanse  from  North  to  South,
as far as the  equator,  and then  in  reverse   or-
der  to  the   Antarctic regions,  also  exhibits, in
proportion to the  elevation of  the land,  a vege-
tation  characterized by intermediate  forms.
  In the same   way  he  reproduced the  general 
25
appearance  of  the  inequalities  of  the  earth's
surface   by  drawing   ideal  sections   across  the
regions  described.  In  the first  place,  through
Spain,  afterwards  from  La Guayra to  Caraccas
across  the  Cumbre,  from  Carthagena  to  Santa
Fe  de  Bogota,  and  finally through  the  whole
continent  of America,  from Acapulco  to Vera
Cruz (as represented  in  another diagram before
you).  And this  not by  mere approximations,  but
founding his profiles upon his own barometric  and
astronomical observations, which he multiplied to
such an  extent  that  his works are to  this  day
the  chief source  of  information concerning  the
physical  geography  of  the  regions  visited   by
him.
   Not   satisfied   with  this,  he  undertook   to
represent,  in  like manner,  the  internal  structure
of  the  earth, by  drawing  similar  charts upon
which  the  relative  position  of the  rocks, with
signs  to indicate  their  mineralogical  character,
is  faithfully portrayed.    The first  chart  of  this
kind was  drawn  by   him  in  Mexico  in  1804,
and   presented to the  School  of Mines  of that
city.   It was  afterwards published in  the Atlas
of  the  American  Journey. — We  are  thus   in-:
debted   to  him  for  the whole  of  that  graphic
method  which has  made it possible to delineate,
in   visible  outlines,  the  true  characteristics  of
               3 
26
 physical phenomena;  for  afterwards  this method
 was applied to the representation  of the oceanic
 currents,  the  direction  of the  prevalent winds,
 the  tidal waves,  the  rise  and  fall of  our  lakes
 and  rivers, the  amount  of  rain  falling  upon
 different  parts of  the   earth's  surface, the mag-
 netic  phenomena,  the  lines   of  equal  average
 temperature, the  relative  height  of   our plains,
 table-lands  and mountain  chains,  their  internal
 structure,  and the  distribution   of   plants   and
 animals.   Even the characteristic  features of  the
 History  of  Mankind  are  now  tabulated  in  the
 same  way  upon   our  ethnographical  maps,  in
 which the  distribution of  the  races,  the  high-
 ways of navigation and commerce, the difference
 among men as to language, culture,  creeds,  nay,
 even  the   records  of our  census, the estimates
 of the  wealth  of nations,  down to  the statistics
 of  agriculture   and  the averages  of  virtue  and
 vice,  are   represented.   In  short, every branch
 of   mental   activity  has  been vivified  by  this
process, and has  undergone  an  entire  transfor-
 mation   under  its  influence.
  His  paper upon the isothermal  lines was  pub-
 lished  in  the "Memoires de  la  Societe  d'Arcueil,"
 a  scientific  club  to  which, in   the beginning of
 this  century, the  most  eminent men of  the  age
 belonged.   Though  a  mere   sketch,  the  first 
                       27

delineation of  the  curves uniting different points
of  the  earth's  surface  which  possess  the  same
average   annual    temperature   under  varying
latitudes,   exhibits   already   the  characteristic
features   of   these   lines,   which   myriads   of
observations  of a  later  date  have  only  con-
firmed.   No  other   series of investigations  shows,
more plainly than  this, to  what accurate  results
an  observer  may  arrive, who  understands  how
to  weigh critically the meaning  of  his  facts,
however few they  may be.   (This other diagram
before  you  represents  the isothermal  lines  as
contrasted with  the degrees of  latitude.)
  The barometrical  and  astronomical observations
upon which  his numerous  maps  are  based were
computed  and  reduced  to   their   final  form
by  his  friend Oltmanns.   They fill  two  large
quarto  volumes,  and   amount   to  the  accurate
determination  of nearly  one thousand localities.
They are  not  taken  at  random,  but  embrace
points of the  highest  importance, with reference
to  the   geographical  distribution of  plants  and
animals  and the  range  of  agricultural  products.
Humboldt has  himself  added an introduction  to
this work in which he  gives  an account of the
instruments  used   in  his  observations  and the
methods  pursued  by  him   in   his   experiments,
and discusses  the  astronomical  refractions  in the
torrid  zone. 
28
  Thus   the  physical  geography  of  our   days
is  based  upon  Humboldt's  investigations.    He
is, indeed, the founder  of  Comparative  Geogra-
phy, that all-embracing science of our globe, un-
folded  with a  master hand  by  Karl Ritter,  and
which  has  now  its ablest  representative in our
own Guyot, the  author of  the maps before you.
His  correspondence  with  Berghaus  testifies his
intense  interest  in the  progress of geographical
knowledge.    To Humboldt  this world  of ours
is  indeed not  only  the  abode  of  man, it is  a
growth   in  the  history  of the  Universe,  shaped
according to laws, by a long process  of succes-
sive changes,  which  have resulted  in  its present
configuration  with its mutually  dependent fea-
tures.   The work upon  the Position of  Rocks  in
the  two  hemispheres tells  the  history  of  that
growth  as  it  could  be  told'in  1823,  and  is  of
course  full  of gross  anachronisms ; but  at the
same time  it  exhibits  the wonderful  power  of
generalization  and  combination  which Humboldt.
possessed, — as, for instance, where he says in few
beautiful words,  fertile in  consequences not yet
fully appreciated by the  naturalists of our day:
"When we examine the solid mass of our  planet,
 we  perceive  that the simple minerals  are  found
 in associations which are  everywhere   the same,
 and  that the   rocks do  not vary,  as  organized 
29
beings do,  according  to  the differences of  lati-
tude  or  the  isothermal  lines  under  which they
occur";  thus  contrasting  in one single  phrase
the  whole  organic  world  with  the  inorganic  in
their essential character.   In  practical  geology
we  owe  to  him  the  first recognition of   the
Jurassic   formation.    It   was   he   who  intro-
duced into our  science  those  happy  expressions,
" geological horizon"  and  " independence of  geo-
logical  formations."   He  also paved  the way for
Elie  de  Beaumont's  determination of  the  rela-
tive  age  of  mountain  chains  by his  discussion
upon the  direction  of stratified  rocks and  by the
parallels  he  drew between  the  age  of plutonic
and  sedimentary formations; nor had it escaped
him  that   distant florae  and  faunae,  though  of
the  same  age, may  be entirely  different.
   The  collection  of  zoological   and  anatomical
papers,  in  two  quarto  volumes,  with  numerous
colored  plates,  is full of  valuable  contributions
to  the  Natural  History  of Animals,  from  his
own  pen,  as  well   as  that of  his  collaborators.
The  most  remarkable are his  description  of  the
Condor,  which  must  have  delighted  the  French
zoologists,   who  could  not  fail  to  compare  it
with  the   glowing   pages of  their  own  Buffon;
his  Synopsis   of the  South American  Monkeys,
rivalling  the  works   of  Audebert  and  Geoffroy
                 3* 
30
St.  Hilaire;  his account  of the Electric Eel  and
the  Catfish  thrown  out   by  the   burning  vol-
canoes of  the  Andes, contrasted with  the  Great
Natural History of Fishes by Lacepede; his paper
on  the respiration of Crocodiles  and  the larynx  of
Birds and Crocodiles, daring upon his own  ground
the greatest anatomist of  the  age,  the immortal
Cuvier.   Indeed,  it  must  have created  a  pro-
found  sensation  in  the  learned  world  when  a
naturalist, all whose  previous  publications  related
to  physical  subjects, suddenly  came  forward  as
a  master  among   masters  in   the  treatment  of
zoological and anatomical  questions.
  The  botanical   works   have  appeared  under
several  titles.  We have  first the  "Plantes Equi-
noxiales" in two folio volumes, with 140 plates, by
Bonpland;   the  monograph of the  Melastomacees
and that of the Rhexiees, in two  folio volumes,
with  120  plates, also  by  Bonpland ;  then  the
Mimosees by Kunth, in  one folio  volume,  with
60  plates;   the  revision of the   Graminees, in one
folio  volume, with  220  plates, by Kunth;  and
finally the  "Nova Genera  et species Plantarum"
by  Kunth, in seven folio volumes, with 700  plates.
Altogether thirteen folio volumes, with 1240  plates,
most   of  which   are   beautifully   colored,  and
remain   unsurpassed   for   fidelity   of   description
and  fulness  of  illustration.    Though  the   de- 
31
scriptive  part   of   these   splendid   volumes  is
from  the  pen  of  his  fellow-traveller  Bonpland,
and  his  younger  friend  Kunth, it  would be  a
mistake   to   suppose  that   Humboldt  had   no
share  in  their  preparation.   Not  only  did  he
assiduously collect specimens  during  the journey,
but  it  was  he  who  made,  on the  spot,  from
the  living plant, drawings  and analyses  of  the
most  remarkable  and  characteristic  trees;  the
general  aspect  of  which  could not be  preserved
in  the  specimens  gathered  for the  herbarium.
Besides  this  there  are entire  chapters  concerning
the  geographical  distribution  of  the  most  re-
markable families of plants, their properties,  their
uses, &c,  entirely  written  by Humboldt  himself.
It was  he,  also,  who for the  first  time  divided
the  areas of the  regions he had  explored into
botanical  provinces,  according  to  their   natural
physical  features;  thus distinguishing  the Flora
of  New  Andalusia  and Venezuela  from  that  of
the  Orinoco basin, that  of  New Granada, that
of Quito, that  of the Peruvian Andes,  and those
of  Mexico  and  Cuba.   It  was  he, also,  who
first showed  that the whole  Vegetable Kingdom
contains,  after all,  but a few  distinct types, which
characterize  the vegetable  carpet  of the  earth's
surface,  in  different  parts  of  the  world,  under
different  latitudes  and  at different  heights.   He 
32
closes  one   of   these   expositions  with   a  few
words,  which  I  cannot  pass  by without quot-
ing.    "Such  investigations,"  he  says,   "afford
an  intellectual   enjoyment  and  foster  a  moral
strength  which  fortify  us   against  misfortunes,
and  which  no human power  can overcome."
  In  1827,  at  the  urgent   solicitation   of   his
brother,  Humboldt transferred his residence  from
Paris  to Berlin.    With this  step there  opens a
new phase  in  his life.    Thus  far  he  had  been
absolutely  independent of  public or  official  po-
sition.    Conducting  his researches  as a  private
individual, if he  appeared  before  the public  at
all, it was only  in  reading his papers to  learned
Academies.   Now  he  began  to  lecture  in  the
University.   In  his  first  course,   consisting  of
sixty-one lectures, he  sketched  the  physical  his-
tory  of the world  in  its broadest  outlines,  — it
was, in  truth, the  programme  of  the   Cosmos.
Since  I shall  give  an  analysis  of  this  work
in  its fitting  place,  I  will   say  nothing  of  the
lectures  here,   except  that,  as  a  teacher,  he
combined  immense   knowledge  with   simplicity
of   expression,  avoiding  all  technicalities   not
absolutely  essential  to  the  subject.
   In  the midst of his  lectures there came to  him
an invitation  from  the  Russian  government to
visit  the  Russian  provinces  of  Asia.    Nothing 
33
could be more  gratifying to a scientific man than
the  terms in  which  this  proposition  was  made.
It  was   expressly  stipulated  by  the  Emperor
that  he  wished  the  material  advantages  which
might accrue  from the  expedition  to  be  a  sec-
ondary  consideration.   Humboldt  was  to  make
scientific  research and the  advancement of knowl-
edge his first  aim,  and  he might turn  his  steps
in  whatever  direction he   chose.    Never  before
had  any  government  organized  an   expedition
with  so  little  regard  to  purely utilitarian consid-
erations.
   This  second great journey of Humboldt is  con-
nected  with a hope  and  disappointment of my
own.   I  was  then  a  student  in  Munich.   That
University had opened under  the most  brilliant
auspices.  Almost every name on  the list  of  pro-
fessors  was  also prominent  in  some  department
of  science   or  literature.   They  were  not  men
who  taught from  text-books or  even  read  lec-
tures made from  extracts of original  works.  They
were themselves original investigators,  daily  con-
tributing  to the sum of human knowledge.  Martius,
Oken, Dollinger, Schelling, Fr. von  Baader, Wagler,
Zuccarini, Fuchs, Vogel, von Kobell, were our teach-
ers.   And they  were  not  only our  teachers but
our  friends.   The best spirit prevailed among the
professors  and students.    We  were  often  the 
34
companions  of  their walks, often  present at their
discussions, and  when  we  met for conversation or
to give lectures among ourselves,  as we  constantly
did, our professors were often among our listeners,
cheering and stimulating  us  in  all  our  efforts
after independent research.
   My  room was  our  meeting-place,— bedroom,
study,   museum,   library,  lecture-room,  fencing-
room,—all   in  one.    Students   and  professors
used   to  call   it   the   little  Academy.    Here
Schimper and  Braun  for  the first  time discussed
the  laws of  phyllotaxis,  that  marvellous rhyth-
mical  arrangement of the leaves  in plants which
our  great  mathematician  in  Cambridge has found
to agree with  the periods of the rotation of  our
planets.   Among  their listeners were Professors
Martius and  Zuccarini; and even  Robert Brown,
while  in Munich, during  a journey through Ger-
many, sought  the  acquaintance  of  these  young
botanists.   Here for the first time  did  Michahelles
lay  before  us  the results  of  his   exploration  of
 the  Adriatic and adjoining  regions.   Here  Boim
 exhibited his  wonderful preparations  of the  anat-
 omy  of  the  Lamper-Eel.  Here  Rudolphi  made
 us acquainted with his exploration  of the Bavarian
 Alps  and  the  shores  of  the  Baltic.  These  my
 fellow-students  in Munich  were  a  bright,  prom-
 ising  set, — boys then in age,  many of whom did 
35
not live to  make  their  names famous  in  the
annals of science.   It was in our little  Academy
that Dollinger, the  great master  in physiology and
embryology,  showed to us, his students, before he
had even given  them to  the scientific world, his
wonderful  preparations  exhibiting the  vessels  of
the villosities of the alimentary  canal;  and here
he  taught us  the  use of the microscope  in  em-
bryological investigation.  And here also  the great
German  anatomist,  Meckel, came to see my collec-
tion of fish skeletons, of which he had heard from
Dollinger.  Such associations, of course,  made us
acquainted with  everything  of  importance which
was   going  on  in  the   scientific  world.   The
preparations  of  Humboldt  for  his  Asiatic  jour-
ney   excited  our  deepest   interest,  and  I  was
filled   with  a  passionate  desire  to  accompany
the   expedition  as  an   assistant.
  General  La Harpe,  then  residing  in Lausanne,
who  had been   the  preceptor  of both  the  Em-
perors Alexander and  Nicholas of Russia, and  who
knew  Humboldt personally,  was a friend  of  my
family, and  he wrote  to  Humboldt in my behalf,
asking  that  I might  join  the  expedition  as an
assistant.  But it  was   not  to  be.  The prepara-
tions  for  the journey  were already made,  and
Ehrenberg  and  Gustav  Rose, then  professors  at
the University of Berlin, were to be  his  travelling 
36
companions.   I should  not mention the  incident
here,  but  that,  slight  as  it  was,  it  marks  the
beginning of my personal relation with Humboldt.

  The  incidents  of  Humboldt's  Asiatic  journey
are  less  known   to  the  public  at  large  than
those of  his  longer  American ramblings.  Short
as  it was,  however, — for he  was absent  only
nine  months, — he  brought to  the  undertaking
such  an  amount   of collateral   knowledge, that
its  scientific  results  are  of  the  utmost impor-
tance, and  may  be  considered  as  the   culmina-
tion of  his  mature research and  comprehensive-
ness  of views.    His  success was  insured  also
by   the  ample  preparations   of   the   Russian
government,  orders having  been  given  along the
whole route  to  grant  him every facility.   De-
scending the Volga to  Kasan,  and  hence  crossing
to Ikaterinenburg   over  the Ural   Mountains, he
passed  through  Tobolsk  on the  Irtish,  to  Bar-
naul  on the  Obi,  and  reached  the Altai Moun-
tains  on the  borders  of China,  thus penetrating
into  the heart of  Asia.  His  researches  into the
physical  constitution  of   what  was  considered
the  high  table-land  of  Asia  revealed  the  true
features of that vast range of mountains.   Touched
by  his  cultivated  genius,  the most  insignificant
facts  became  fruitful, and   gave  him  at  once  a 
37
clew  to  the  real  character of  the  land.    The
presence  of  fruit-trees  and   other   plants,  be-
longing  to  families  not  known  to   occur  in
elevated  regions, led him  to  distrust  the  ex-
istence  of  an  unbroken,  high,  cold  table-land,
extending   over  the   whole   of  Central  Asia,
and . by a  diligent  comparison of  all  existing
documents  on  the  subject,  combined  with  his
own  observations, he   showed  that  four  great
parallel mountain ridges,  separated by  gradually
higher  and higher  level  grounds,  extend  in  an
east-westerly  direction.    First,  the   Altai,  bor-
dering  on   the  plains  of  Siberia,  from  the
northern  slope  of  which  descend all  the  great
rivers flowing  into  the  Arctic Ocean, — as  the
Irtisch  with   the  Obi,  the   Jenisei  and  the
Lena;  then the  Thian-Shan,  south  of  the  pla-
teau  of  Soongaria;  next,  the  Kuenlun,  south
of  the plateau  of  Tartary;   finally,  the  Hima-
laya  range,  separating  the  plateau  of  Thibet
from   the  plains  of  the  Ganges.   He  showed
also  the   connection  of  the  Himalaya  Moun-
tains   through  the   Hindoo-koo  and  the  Dema-
vend   with  the  far-off  range  of the  Caucasus.
These  east-westerly  ranges,  giving  form   and
character  to   the  continent of  Asia,  are  then
contrasted  with the  north-southerly  direction of
the Ghauts, the Soliman and Bolor range, and the
                4 
38
Ural Mountains  which  divide  Europe from Asia.
Approaching  the  great  highways,  over which  the
caravans of  the  East,  from  Delhi   and  Lahore,
reach  the  northern   marts  of  Samarcand,  Bo-
khara,  and  Orenburg, he  opens to  us  the most
striking  vistas of  the  early  communication  be-
tween  the Aryan  civilization  and  the Western
lands lying then in  the  darkness  of savage  life.
He inquired  also into the course of the old Oxus,
and the former  channels between Lake Aral  and
the  Caspian  Sea.    The level  of that great  inland
salt lake, about  two  or three hundred  feet lower
than the surface of the sea,  suggested  to him its
former   communication  with  the  Arctic  Ocean,
when the  Steppes  of the Kirghis formed an open
gulf and the northern waters poured  over those
extensive  plains.  After  examining the German
settlements  about  the Caspian Sea, he  returned
 to  St.  Petersburg by   way  of  Orenburg  and
 Moscow.
   The   scientific  results  of  this journey   are
 recorded  in two  separate  works, the   first  of
 which,  under the  title  of "Asiatic Fragments  of
 Climatology  and  Geology,"  is  chiefly  devoted
 to  an   account  of  the  inland  volcanoes which
 he  had had an opportunity  of studying  during
 this journey.    He  had  now examined the  vol-
 canic  phenomena  upon  three continents, and had 
39
gained  an  insight  more  penetrating  and  more
comprehensive   than   was   possessed   by  any
other geologist into their deep  connection with
all  the  changes  our globe  has undergone.  Vol-
canoes were  no longer  to him  mere  local  mani-
festations   of a  limited  focus  of   eruption;  he
perceived   their relation  to  earthquakes  and to
all  the  phenomena coincident with  the  forma-
tion of the  inequalities of the  earth's  surface.
   The  contrast between  the  Siberian winter and
the great  fertility of the neighborhood of Astra-
can,  where   he   found   the  finest   vineyards
he  had ever  seen, led  him  to  consider  anew
the  causes of  the  irregularities  of temperature
under  corresponding  latitudes,  and thus  to  en-
large   his   knowledge   of the  isothermal  lines,
which   he  had  first  sketched in  his  younger
years,   and  the  rationale   of which   he   now
clearly  set forth.    In  one  comprehensive  view
he  showed  the connection  between  the rotation
of  the  earth,  the  radiation  of its surface,  the
currents of the ocean, and  especially among the lat-
ter the Gulf Stream,  in  their combined influence
upon  conditions of temperature, producing under
identical latitudes   such contrasts  of  climate  as
exist  between  Boston,  Madrid, Naples, Constan-
tinople,   Tiflis   on  the   Caucasus,  Hakodadi  in
Japan,  and that part  of  our own coast in Cali- 
40
fornia, where  stands the city which bears his own
venerated  name.
  The  second  work  relating   to   the  Asiatic
journey  appeared   under  the  title   of  "Central
Asia,"  being  an  account of  his  researches into
the  mountain  systems and  the  climate of that
continent.   The  broadest generalizations relating
to  the  physics  of the  globe,  showing   Hum-
boldt's  wonderful  familiarity  with all  its external
features, are  here  introduced  in  a  short  paper
upon  the   average  elevation  of  the  continents
above  the  level of  the  sea,  as  compared  with
the  average- depths  of the  ocean.   Laplace,  the
great • geometer, had  already  considered  the sub-
ject ;  but  Humboldt  brought  to  the  discussion
an  amount of  facts  which   showed   conclusively
that  the  purely   mathematical  consideration  of
the  inquiry,  as  handled by Laplace, had   been
premature.    Taking   separately  into  considera-
tion  the space  occupied upon  the  earth's  sur-
face by mountain  ridges with  that  occupied by
high  table-lands,   and  the  far  more  extensive
tracts  of low  plains,  Humboldt showed that the
average elevation  of the  earth, estimated by
Laplace at  more than  one thousand metres,  could
in  fact be scarcely  one third  that  amount,—
a great deal  less,  indeed, than the average  depth
of the  sea. 
41
  In  1830, after  his  return  to Berlin,  he  was
chosen  as   the  fitting   messenger  from   one
great  nation   to   another.    The   Restoration
which  followed  the downfall  of  Napoleon  had
been   overturned  by  the  July  revolution,  and
Humboldt  who had  lived through the glory of the
Republic  and  the  most  brilliant   days  of  the
Empire was  appointed  by  the King of  Prussia
to carry  an  official greeting  to  Louis  Philippe
and  the  new dynasty.   He  had indeed  the  most
friendly  relations with the  Orleans family,  and
was, from private  as  well  as  public considera-
tions,  a  suitable  ambassador on this  occasion.
  Paris  had  greatly  changed  since  his return
from his  first great journey.  Many of those  who
had  made the glory of the Academy  of  Sciences,
in the beginning of the century, had passed away,
and  a  new generation had come up.   Elie  de Beau-
mont,  Dufrenoy, the younger Brongniart, Adrien
de  Jussieu,   Isidore   Geoffroy,  Milne  Edwards,
Audouin,  Flourens, Guillemain,  Pouillet, Duperrey,
Babinet,   Decaisne,   and  others,   had  risen   to
distinction, while  the  older  Ampere,  the  older
Brongniart, Valenciennes, De Blainville, Arago and
Geoffroy   St.  Hilaire   had   come  forward   as
leaders  in  science.    Cuvier,  just the   age  of
Humboldt  himself,  was  still  active  and ardent
in  research.    His  salon,  frequented  by  states-
                4 * 
42
men,  scholars,  and   artists,   was,  at  the  same
time,  the  gathering-place of all  the most  original
thinkers  in  Paris;  and the  pleasure  of  those
delightful   meetings   was   unclouded,  for  none
dreamed how  soon  they were to  end forever,—
how  soon  that  bright  and  vivid mind  was  to
pass  away  from  among us.
  In  those  days  a  fierce  discussion  was  carried
on  before the  Academy as well  as in  public  lec-
tures.   Goethe  had declared  the unity of  struc-
ture in the  bony frame  of all  the  Vertebrates,
and  had laid the foundation  of the  morphology
of  plants.   These new  views had  awakened  the
interests  and  passions of the  whole world of  sci-
ence to a degree  hitherto unknown in her peace-
ful  halls.   Cuvier,  strange  to   say,  had  taken
ground  in  opposition  to Goethe's views upon  the
Vertebrate  type, while Geoffroy  St. Hilaire,  a  de-
voted adherent of Goethe's ideas,  had  expressed
his  convictions in words  not  always  courteous
toward Cuvier.  The  latter had  retorted with  an
overwhelming  display  of  special  knowledge,  un-
der  which  the   brilliant  generalizations  of  St.
Hilaire  seemed   to   be  crushed.    Cuvier   was
then  giving  a course of lectures in the  College
de  France  on  the history of science,  into  which
he  wove  with  passionate   animation  his  objec-
tions  to  the new doctrine.    Humboldt  attended 
43
these  lectures  regularly, and I  had  frequently
the  pleasure  of  sitting by  his  side  and  being
the  recipient  of his passing  criticism.   While  he
was  impressed  by  the  objections of  the master-
anatomist,  he  could  not  conceal  his  sympathy
for the  conception of  the  great poet, his  coun-
tryman.   Seeing  more  clearly  than Cuvier him-
self  the  logic of his investigations, in  whispered
comments  during  the lectures,  he  constantly  de-
clared that whatever deficiencies  the  doctrine of
unity  might  still contain,  it  must  be essentially
true, and Cuvier  ought to be  its  expounder  in-
stead  of its  opponent.   The great French natu-
ralist did not live to complete these lectures, but
the  view expressed by  his  friend was  prophetic.
Cuvier's  own researches,  especially  those bearing
upon  the   characteristics  of the  four  different
plans  of structure  of the  animal kingdom,  have
helped  to  prove, in  his own despite, though in
a  modified form,  the  truth  of the doctrine  he so
bitterly  opposed.
   The  life which  Humboldt  now  led  was  less
exclusively  that  of a student than it  had  been
during his former Paris life.  He was  the  ambas-
sador  of a  foreign  court.   His  official  position
and  his  rank in  society,  as  well  as  his  great
celebrity,  made  him  everywhere   a  cherished
guest, and  Humboldt  had  the   gift  of making 
44
himself ubiquitous.  He was  as  familiar with  the
gossip  of the fashionable  and  dramatic world  as
with the  higher walks  of life  and the  abstruse
researches  of science.   He had at this time two
residences  in Paris, — his  lodging  at  the Hotel
des Princes,  where he  saw  the great  world, and
his working-room in the Rue de la Harpe, where
he  received   with  less   formality  his  scientific
friends.   It  is  with  the  latter place   I  associate
him;  for there  it  was  my privilege to visit him
frequently.   There he   gave me  leave  to  come
to  talk  with him about  my  work  and consult
him in my  difficulties.   I am unwilling  to  speak
of myself on this occasion, and yet  I do not  know
how else I  can do justice  to  one of the  most
beautiful  sides of Humboldt's character.  His sym-
pathy  for  all young  students of nature  was  one
of  the noblest  traits of  his  long life.   It  may
truly be said that  toward the  close of his career
there  was hardly one  prominent  or aspiring  sci-
entific  man   in  the  world  who  was  not  under
some  obligation to him.  His  sympathy  touched
not only  the work  of  those   in  whom  he  was
interested, but  extended also  to their  material
wants  and embarrassments.   At this period  I  was
twenty-four; he  "was  sixty-two.    I had  recently
taken  my degree  as Doctor of  Medicine,  and  was
struggling not  only for  a  scientific position, but 
45
for  the means  of existence  also.    I  have  said
that he  gave  me  permission  to  come  as  often
as I pleased to his room,  opening  to  me freely
the inestimable advantages which intercourse with
such a man gave to a  young investigator  like
myself. But he  did far more  than this.   Occu-
pied and  surrounded  as he  was,  he  sought  me
out  in my own  lodging.   The  first visit he  paid
me at  my narrow  quarters in the Quartier Latin,
where  I occupied  a small room in the  Hotel du
Jardin des Plantes, was  characteristic of the man.
After a cordial  greeting, he walked straight  to what
was then  my  library, — a  small  book-shelf  con-
taining a few classics, the meanest  editions  bought
for a  trifle  along  the  quays, some works on  phi-
losophy .and history,  chemistry and physics,  his
own Views of Nature, Aristotle's Zoology, Linnaeus's
Systema  Naturae,  in  several  editions,  Cuvier's
Regne Animal, and quite a number  of manuscript
quartos, copies which, with  the assistance  of my
brother, I had  made  of works I  was  too  poor
to  buy,  though  they cost   but a  few francs  a
volume.   Most  conspicuous  of all  were   twelve
volumes of the new German Cyclopaedia presented
to  me by  the publisher.   I  shall  never  forget,
after his  look  of mingled interest  and surprise at
my little  collection, his  half-sarcastic  question  as
he  pounced  upon the great  Encyclopaedia, — "Was 
46
machen Sie denn mit dieser Eselsbriicke ?"   What
are you  doing  with  this ass's  bridge ? — the
somewhat contemptuous  name  given in Germany
to  similar   compilations.    " I  have   not  had
time,"  I said, " to  study  the  original  sources of
learning, and I  need a  prompt  and easy  answer
to a thousand  questions I have  as yet no other
means  of solving."
  It was no  doubt  apparent  to him that  I  was
not over  familiar with  the  good  things of  this
world,  for  I shortly afterward  received an invi-
tation  to meet  him  at six o'clock  in the  Galerie
vitree  of the  Palais Royal, whence he led  me
into one of  those  restaurants, the  tempting win-
dows   of  which  I  had  occasionally passed  by.
When  we  were  seated,  he half laughingly,  half
inquiringly  asked  me   whether  I  would  order
the  dinner.   I  declined  the  invitation,  saying
that we  should  fare  better   if  he  would  take
the trouble.  And  for three hours,  which  passed
like a  dream, I had him all to  myself.  How  he
examined me, and how  much  I learned in that
short  time!  How  to work, what to do, and what
to  avoid ;  how  to live ;  how  to  distribute  my
time;  what  methods of study  to  pursue, — these
were  the things of which he  talked  to  me  on
that delightful  evening.    I do  not mention  this
trivial  incident  without  feeling  that it  may seem 
47
too familiar for the occasion; nor  should I  give
it  at  all, except that it  shows the  sweetness and
kindliness  of  Humboldt's  nature.    It  was not
enough for him  to  cheer and stimulate  the stu-
dent ; he cared  also to  give a rare  indulgence
to a  young man  who  could  allow himself few
luxuries.

   The last  period  of his  life was  spent  in Ber-
lin, and  while  there  to the  end of his  long and
laborious  career  he was  engaged  with  the pub-
lication of his Cosmos,  and  also in  editing the
great  work, on the  Kavi language, left by his
brother  William,  who  died  in  1835.   Besides
these  important undertakings, he was unceasingly
engaged  in fostering magnetic  observations and
the establishment of magnetic  observatories.   He
likewise felt a lively interest in the  proposed inter-
oceanic Canal  between  the  Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans,   the  lines  for  which  he   had  carefully
considered   in  earlier   years.   Surrounded   by
loving and admiring  friends,  covered with honors
and   distinctions, these  days  were  rich in  peace-
ful enjoyment.
   One  of the most  prominent  features  of  Hum-
boldt's  mind,  as   philosopher   and   student   of
nature, consists  in  the keenness with which  he
perceives   the most  remote  relations   of  the 
48
phenomena  under  consideration, and  the felicity
with which  he combines his facts  so  as to draw
the  most  comprehensive  pictures.   This faculty
is  more  particularly  exhibited  in  the Cosmos,
the crowning  effort  of  his  mature  life.   With
a  grasp transcending  the  most   profound   gen-
eralizations  of  the   philosophers  of   all  ages,
he   draws   at  first  in  broad  outlines  a  sketch
of  the  whole  Universe.   With  an  eye  sharp-
ened   by  the  most  improved   instruments  of
the  Observatory,  and   exalted  by  the  experi-
ence  of all his predecessors,  he   penetrates into
the  remotest   recesses  of   space,  to  seek  for
the  faintest ray of  light  that may  furnish  any
information concerning  the expanse  of the heav-
enly vault  and the  age of  the  celestial  bodies.
He  thus makes the  rapidity   with  which   light
is  propagated  a measure  of the  distance  which
separates the  visible  parts  of the  whole  sys-
tem from   one  another,  as well as  a  means of
approximately  estimating  the  duration of  their
existence.   He next  considers  the  various   ap-
pearances  of the  celestial   bodies,  the different
kinds  of  nebulae,  their   form  and  relations  to
one  another  and  to  the  so-called  fixed  stars;
describes  in  graphic  and  fascinating  language
the  landscape-like   loveliness  of  their  combina-
tions  in the  Milky-Way  and the  various  con- 
49
stellations ;  discusses  the  nature of  the double-
stars, and, gradually  approaching  our  own  sys-
tem  by  a comparison of our sun  to  other  suns,
rises, by  a  sublime effort  of the imagination, to
a  conception  of  the  form  of their  united  sys-
tems in  space.    In the description  of our  solar
system  one  might  have expected  an  exposition
similar to the  methods  adopted by astronomers;
but  the  object of  our great physicist  is  not to
write  a  synopsis  of  Astronomy.    He  plunges
without  hesitation  into  the  earliest  history of
the  formation of our earth,  the better to  illus-
trate the relations  to one  another  of the  sun
and  the  planets  with their  satellites, the comets,
and  the  hosts of  meteors of all  kinds  which  come
flashing,  like  luminous  showers,  through the  at-
mosphere.   Our   globe   is   reviewed  in  its  turn.
First, its structure, the density of  its  mass, in
the  estimation  of which  the  oscillations of the
pendulum  become  a  plummet-line  with  which
to   fathom   the  inapproachable  deep;  then the
volcanoes  are  made   to  reveal  the  everlasting
conflict between  the  interior caldrons  of  melted
materials and  the  consolidation of  the  ruffled
surface ;  the distribution  of  heat  and light, the
climates,  as depending  upon the  inequalities of
form and  relief,  the  currents  of  the  ocean, as
modifying  the   temperature,  the  magnetic phe-
                5 
50
nomena,  the  aurora borealis,  the shooting  stars,
etc., are discussed in turn.  The changes which
our  globe  has  undergone  in  course  of   ages
are  next  described :   how the  lands  gradually
rose  above  the  level  of  the   sea ;   how   they
first formed disconnected archipelagos; how moun-
tains grew up in  succession, and  their  relative
age; the form and extent of successively larger
continental  islands, their   plants  and   animals ;
— nothing  escaped his  attention ;  everything  is
represented in its  true  place   and  relation  to
the  whole.  Especially  attractive are  his  delin-
eations of  the distribution  of  plants  and  ani-
mals upon the present  surface  of  the  earth,  of
which an  account  has  already  been  given.
   This mode  of treating his subjects, emphatically
his  own, has  led  many specialists  to underrate
Humboldt's familiarity with different  branches  of
science; as if knowledge  could  only  be  recorded
in pedantic forms  and  a set  phraseology.
   But  Humboldt  is  not  only  an  observer, not
only a  physicist, a  geographer, a  geologist  of
matchless  power and  erudition, he  knows  that
nature has  its  attraction  for the  soul of  man;
 that, however  uncultivated, man  is impressed  by
 the great phenomena amid which  he lives; that
 he is  dependent  for his comforts and  the progress
 of  civilization upon  the  world  that  surrounds 
51
him.  This leads to an  appreciative analysis of the
enjoyment derived from  the  contemplation of na-
ture,  and to  considerations  of the  highest  order
respecting the  influence  which  natural  highways
have  had upon the races of men, in their distri-
bution upon  the whole surface of  the globe.
  In  speaking  of  his  later  days  I  cannot omit
some   allusion to a  painful  fact  connected with
his  residence at  Berlin.   The  publication  of  a
private  correspondence  between  Varnhagen  von
Ense  and Humboldt has led  to many unfriendly
criticisms upon  the latter.    He has been blamed
for  holding  his  place  at court, while, in  private,
he  criticised  and  even  satirized  severely every-
thing  connected  with  it.   It is  not  easy   to
place  one's self in the right  point of  view with
reference to   these confidential letters.    It must
be  remembered  that   Humboldt was  a  Republi-
can at heart.    His  most  intimate friends, from
Forster,  in his  early youth, to Arago, in  his ma-
ture years, were ardent  Republicans.   He shared
their  enthusiasm  for   the  establishment  of  self-
government   among   men.    An   anecdote  pre-
served to  us by Lieber shows that he  did not
conceal  his   sympathies,  even  before   the King
who honored him so  highly.   Lieber,  who was
present  at the  conversation, gives  the  following
account  of  it:    " The  King  of   Prussia, Hum- 
52
boldt,  and Niebuhr were  talking  of the  affairs
of the  day,  and  the  latter  spoke in  no flatter-
ing terms of the  political views and antecedents
of Arago,  who, it is   well known,  was  a  very
advanced  Republican  of  the Gallican School,  an
uncompromising   French   democrat.    Frederic
William  the Third  simply abominated  Republi-
canism ;  yet when  Niebuhr  had finished, Hum-
boldt  said,  with  a sweetness   which  I  vividly
remember:  " Still this   monster  is  the  dearest
friend  I have  in France."
  Can we,  therefore,  be   surprised  that,  in  his
confidential letters to  a  sympathizing friend, he
should  not  refrain from  expressing his dislike
of the petty intrigues and low  sentiments which
he  met among courtiers.   I received,  myself, a
letter  from Humboldt, written in the days  when
the reactionary movements were at  their height
in  Prussia, in  which, in  a  strain of deep sad-
ness and  despondency, he  expresses his  regret  at
the turn  political  affairs  had  taken  in   Europe,
and  his   disappointment  at the  failure  of  those
aspirations for  freedom  with which  he   had felt
the deepest  sympathy in  his youth.   We may
wish  that  this  great  man  had  been  wholly con-
sistent, that  no  shadow  had   rested  upon the
loyalty of his   character,  that  he  had   not  ac-
cepted the friendship  and  affection  of a  King 
53
whose   court   he  did  not  respect  and  whose
weaknesses  he keenly felt.   But let us  remem-
ber  that  his  official   station   there gave  him
the  means  of  influencing  culture   and  educa-
tion in  his native  country  in  a way  which he
could  not  otherwise   have done, and   that  in
this respect he  made  the noblest  use of his po-
sition.    His  sympathy  with  the  oppressed  in
every  land was profound.   We  see  it in his
feeling   for  the   aborigines  in   South   America,
in  his   abhorrence  of  slavery.    I  believe  that
he would  have  experienced one  of the purest
and deepest joys  of  his  life  had   he lived  to
hear of  the  abolition of slavery  in  the  United
States.     His  dislike  of  all  subserviency  and
flattery,  whether toward himself or  others, was
always  openly  expressed,  and  was unquestion-
ably genuine.
   The   philosophical   views  of   Humboldt,  his
position  with   reference   to   the  gravest  and
most   important   questions  concerning   man's
destiny,  and  the origin  of all  things,  have  been
often  discussed,  and  the most   opposite  opinions
have  been expressed  respecting  them  by  men
who seem equally competent  to appreciate the
meaning of  his writings.   The  modern school
 of Atheists claims  him  as  their  leader;  as  such
we find him  represented  by  Burmeister in  his
                 5* 
54
scientific  letters.    Others   bring   forward  his
sympathy with  Christian  culture  as evidence  of
his   adherence  to  Christianity  in   its  broadest
sense.   It is difficult to find in Humboldt's  own
writings any  clew  to  the  exact nature  of his
convictions.    He   had   too  great  regard  for
truth,  and he knew too  well the  Aryan origin
of the  traditions  collected by the  Jews, to  give
his  countenance  to  any  creed based upon  them.
Indeed,  it  was   one  of his  aims  to  free  our
civilization  from  the  pressure  of  Jewish  tradi-
tion ;  but it  is  impossible   to   become  familiar
with  his  writings without feeling that,  if  Hum-
boldt  was  not  a  believer,   he  was  no  scoffer.
A reverential spirit  for  everything  great   and
good breathes through  all  his   pages.   Like  a
true  philosopher,  he   knew   that  the  time  had
not  yet come for  a  scientific  investigation into
the  origin of all things.  Before  he   attempted
to  discuss  the   direct  action  of  a  Creator in
bringing  about   the   present  condition   of  the
Universe,  he knew  that   the   physical  laws
which  govern the  material  world  must  be first
understood;   that it would  be  a  mistake to  as-
cribe  to the agency  of  a   Supreme  Power  oc-
currences  and   phenomena  which  could   be   de-
duced  from  the  continued   agency  of  natural
causes.   Until some limit to the action of these 
55
causes  has  been  found,  there  is  no  place,  in  a
scientific  discussion, as such,  for the  consideration
of  the  intervention  of a Creator.
   In the closing paragraph  of the  first volume
of  the  Cosmos   Humboldt   distinctly  objects  to
the  consideration  of  the  sphere of intelligence in
connection  with   the  study  of Nature.  But  the
time is  fast  approaching, and  indeed some dar-
ing  thinkers  have  actually  entered  upon  the
question, — Where  is  the line between  the in-
evitable action of law and  the intervention  of  a
higher  power? where is  the  limit?   And  here
we  find  the most   opposite  views  propounded.
There are  those  who  affirm  that,  inasmuch  as
force and matter  are  found  to   be  a  sufficient
ground  for   so  many  physical  phenomena,  we
are  justified  in  assuming that  the  whole  uni-
verse,   including   organic  life, has   no  further
origin.    To  these, I  venture  to  say, Humboldt
did  not  belong.    He had  too. logical  a  mind
to assume that an harmoniously combined whole
could  be  the  result  of accidental  occurrences.
In   the  few instances  where,  in  his  works,
he  uses  the  name   of  God, it appears plainly
that  he  believes  in  a Creator   as the   law-
giver  and   primary  originator  of   all   things.
Tliere  are two passages in his writings especially
significant in  this respect.   In  the  second  vol- 
56
ume of the  Cosmos, when  speaking  of the  im-
pression  man  receives  from  the  contemplation
of  the  physical  world,  he   calls   nature   God's
majestic  realm, — "Gottes erhabenes Reich."  In
his  allusion  to the  fearful  catastrophe of  Car-
racas, destroyed by an  earthquake  in 1812,  the
critical  inquirer may  even infer that  Humboldt
believed in a  special Providence.   For he  says
with much  feeling:   " Our friends  are no  more,
the house  we  lived  in is  a  pile of  ruins;  the
city I have described  no longer  exists.   The  day
had been  very hot,  the air was  calm, the  sky
without a  cloud.    It  was  Holy Thursday;  the
people  were mostly  assembled  in   the churches.
Nothing  seemed   to  foreshadow the  threatening
misfortune.    Suddenly,  at   four  o'clock  in  the
afternoon,   the  bells  which   were  struck   mute
that  day  began  to  toll.   It  was  the  hand of
God,  and   not  the  hand  of  man,  which  rang
that funeral diiige."   In  his  own  words:    " Es
war Gottes, nicht  Menschenhand,  die  hier  ziira
Grabgelaute zwang."
  One  word more  before  I  close.   I  have  ap-
peared  before  you  as the representative  of  the
Boston  Natural   History  Society.   It  was  their
proposition to  celebrate  this  memorable anniver-
sary.    I   feel  grateful  for  their  invitation, for
the honor  they   have  done  me.    I  feel  still 
57
more  grateful  for  the generous  impulse  which
has  prompted   them   to   connect  a  Humboldt
scholarship,  as  a memorial of this occasion, with
the  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology  at   Cam-
bridge.   I  trust  this  token of  good-will  may
only  be  another  expression  of  that emulation
for progress  which  I  earnestly  hope  may for-
ever  be  the only  rivalry between these kindred
institutions  and  their  younger  sister in Salem.
We  have   all   a  great  task  to  perform.  It
should  be  our   effort,  as  far   as   it  lies  in
our  power,  to   raise   the  standard  of culture
of  our  people,  as Humboldt  has  elevated  that
of  the  world.    May  the  community  at   large
feel   with   equal  keenness  the  importance  of
each  step  now  taken  for   the   expansion,  in
every direction,  of all the  means  of the  high-
est  culture.   The  physical   suffering   of  hu-
manity, the  wants  of the poor, the  craving  of
the hungry and  naked, appeal to  the sympathy
of  every  one  who has  a human   heart.   But
there are  necessities  which   only  the  destitute
student  knows;  there  is  a  hunger  and   thirst
which only the  highest  charity  can  understand
and relieve, and  on this solemn occasion let me
say that every dollar  given for  higher education,
in whatever special   department  of  knowledge,
is  likely to  have  a  greater   influence upon the 
58
future  character  of  our  nation  than  even  the
thousands  and hundreds  of  thousands  and  mil-
lions  which  have  already been  spent  and  are
daily  spending to  raise  the  many  to  material
ease and  comfort.
  In the  hope   of  this  coming  golden  age,  let
us rejoice together that Humboldt's name  will be
permanently connected with education and learning
in this  country,  with the prospects and  institu-
tions of which he  felt  so  deep and  so affection-
ate  a  sympathy. 
                    PRAYER

                        BY THE

         Rev.  JAMES WALKER,  D.D.,

OFFERED PREVIOUS TO  THE ADDRESS  BY PROFESSOR AGASSIZ.
  0 thou infinite Source of life and light, we invoke thy
blessing  on  these services  in the  memories they awaken
and the  hopes they inspire.  We acknowledge and adore
that  providence  by which gifted men are raised up from
time to time to make us better acquainted with the heavens
which declare thy glory and with the earth  which shows
thy handiwork.   Impress it, we beseech thee, upon the great
masters of science that they also are prophets, set to re-
veal the  thoughts and the ways of the living God.   Suffer
not the rapid increase of natural light to dazzle our eyes,
or obscure or confuse that divine  light which comes from
thy Word and  from  the instincts and aspirations  of the
human  soul; so that science  and faith  may reverently
work together for the good of man and the glory of God,
through  Christ  our Lord.  Amen. 
  During the address by Professor Agassiz  every available
place in  the Music  Hall was occupied.   Delegates were
present from the leading literary  and scientific  societies
throughout  New England.   The  colleges of  Yale  and
Brown, Bowdoin and Dartmouth, were  represented;  so
also  was Harvard University,  by its  President  and Fac-
ulties.  On the part  of the Commonwealth  was his  Excel-
lency Governor Claflin;  while  his Honor the Mayor  of
Boston, and delegates  from both branches  of  the  City
Government, were officially present.
  The Music, noble and effective, and in every way worthy
the occasion,  was under the conductorship  of  Mr. Carl
Zerrahn, who  gave his valuable  services, as  did also the
Orpheus Musical Society, aided by various other German
Musical Associations.
  Mr. J. K. Paine presided at the organ, rendering Bach's
wonderful Toccata in  F in a masterly manner.   This was
followed by the  beautiful " Hymn to Music " by Lachner,
with all its variety and richness  of melody, together with
grand selections  from Beethoven and Mozart;   while the
exquisite  four-part song  by Mendelssohn  ("Wenn Gott
will rechte  Gunst erweisen"), both  in music and words,
was peculiarly appropriate : —
           " To whom God special favor grants,
            Him sends he out into the world,
            Shows him the wonders of creation,
            In mountain and forest, stream and field." 
THE EVENING RECEPTION.
6 
COMMITTEE  OF ARRANGEMENTS.
R. C. WATERSTON,
JEFFRIES WYMAN,
          SAMUEL H.
  N. B. SHURTLEFF,
  SAMUEL KNEELAND,
SCUDDER. 
THE  EVENING   RECEPTION.
   In  the evening  a large and distinguished audience
assembled at  Horticultural Hall.   Invited  guests  and
delegates from literary  and scientific societies, members
of both branches of the City  Government, gentlemen  of
the School  Board, and  others  interested in the cause  of
Education, were  present, representing every State  in New
England, as well as more distant parts of the country.
  Around the Hall various interesting mementos of Hum-
boldt were  displayed. Upon the platform were two  por-
traits  (which  were  also at the Music  Hall  during the
delivery of Professor Agassiz's  address), — one painted  at
Mexico  in  1803 by  a  Spanish  artist, and  placed at the
disposal of the Committee  of Arrangements by Mr. Wm.
F. Poole, late librarian of the  Boston  Athenasum; the
other  painted at Berlin by Mr. Wight when Humboldt
had reached the age of  eighty-three.  The latter  portrait
was lent for the occasion  by the artist.  There was also
a  palm-branch,  borne  on the  coffin   of  Humboldt  at
his funeral,  which was brought from  Berlin  as a gift
to Professor Agassiz, together with the  pen  with which
the illustrious naturalist  had  last  written.   Before the 
                          64

desk  was a large chromo-lithograph,  representing Hum-
boldt in his  study, lent for the occasion by Mr. Charles
Deane,  Secretary of the Historical  Society.   A  remark-
ably  fine proof-plate  of one  of the  best  engravings  of
Humboldt, obtained at Berlin  by Professor Young, was
upon one side of the  Hall, and upon the other a life-like
photograph of Humboldt, presented by himself to Professor
Brown.   Several  original notes and  letters  to  artists and
scholars  attracted  much  attention, among which were
three autograph  papers belonging   to  the  Chairman, —
Alexander von Humboldt's between that  of Cuvier and
Sir Isaac Newton.
  The Rev. R. C.  Waterston, as Chairman of the Com-
mittee of Arrangements, presided.  In his opening remarks
he  welcomed  the delegates of the  different literary and
scientific  societies who  were present, expressing his  con-
gratulations at the great success which  had attended  the
celebration.   A  brief statement  followed  respecting  the
Humboldt  Scholarship.   It had  been  the  desire  of  the
Committee that  the occasion should not be one of mere
pleasure,  even though  of  high  intellectual gratification,
but that it should result in a substantial memorial, which,
while it was a fitting monument to  the memory of Hum-
boldt, would also  prove  an  aid and encouragement to wor-
thy students* in their  preparatory studies;  for  this end  a
" Scholarship " had been proposed,  to be associated with
the names of Humboldt and Agassiz, and  to  be  forever
devoted  to  the  aid of students of Natural  History  in
the  Museum  of   Comparative  Zoology at  Cambridge.
The Chairman was happy in being able to state that, aside
from the proceeds at the Music Hall, the sum of over five 
65
thousand dollars had been subscribed as the foundation of a
permanent fund ;  the proposed scholarship was  therefore
secured.  After this  gratifying statement, which was re-
ceived with hearty applause,  the Chairman  called upon
Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson, of Newport, R. I.,
who responded as follows : —

  He expressed his pleasure at the fact that the Com-
mittee had  made  this  occasion  a  festival  not alone for
the scientific societies of Massachusetts, but of New Eng-
land, thus uniting the  sympathy of that larger Massachu-
setts  of which Boston  is still th'e centre.   In collecting
subscriptions a ready response  had been shown from New
England men whose  lives  had been  spent far from  their
birthplace, as in California or Ohio.   There was something
in the name of Humboldt that appealed to all Americans,
not alone for his explorations of this continent, but because
his  name represented the  comprehensiveness of  culture,
which ought to be,  though  it is not yet, American.  In
that superficiality of training which yet prevails among us,
where any man who can use a microscope ranks as a savant,
and every one who remembers his Greek" alphabet is called
a scholar, we  need such commemorations  as  this.   What
touched us all to-day in Professor Agassiz's address was its
personal passages, — the  tribute  of  one  great  scientific
leader to another; and the best  thing  that any one of us
can do to-night is to say simply what he owes to Humboldt,
as the best evidence of the intellectual reach of  that re-
markable man.
  Many of us  owe to our early readings of Humboldt our
first impressions of what a comprehensive scholarship should
                  6* 
66
be..  He  took some  things  from us indeed, and dispelled
some  pleasing illusions.   Through him we learned with
regret that monkeys did not, as we had been told, construct
Pacific railways  with each  other's tails and run express-
trains across rivers by their aid.  We learned, too, that if
a man wished to commit felo de se, no vampire-bat would
ever aid in his  intentions,  since  these  alarming animals
rarely bite, and  their  bite never  kills.  But  the wonders
which he took away were trifling beside the more genuine
wonders  that  he told.
  Then those of us whose vocation was Literature discovered
with  delight that Humboldt was not a mere scientist, but
one who  loved  beauty in nature  and  in art,  and always
recognized that side of culture.  He said in his " Cosmos "
that under free  institutions no single branch  of knowl-
edge  would be  pursued  to  the exclusion  of others.  All
were  precious,  he  said, whether they  yielded  physical
wealth, or whether, more permanent in their nature, they
transmitted in the works of mind the glory of nations  to
remotest posterity.   The Spartans, he added, notwithstand-
ing their Doric 'austerity, prayed  the  gods  to  grant them
the beautiful  with the good.
   So wide was Humboldt's  mind, it has  been said  that if
he  had not been a man of  science, he would  have been
an  artist or a poet.  This  is hardly  probable, for though
he had the appreciation of beauty, the love  of constructive
form was not strong in  him.  Still he has left  some fine
poetic statements, as where he says, in his correspondence :
" A book about external nature should produce on us the
same impression as nature itself," or when  he says that
" a diamond  is  a pebble arrived  at consciousness."  And 
67
even if this last phrase is only a satire on Schelling, -it is
none  the less poetic.
   It is fortunate for great men that one of the annoyances
to which they are'least liable is that  of being present at
their  own centennial anniversary.  Fontenelle might have
done this, — he who at the age of one  hundred apologized
for not stooping to  pick up a  lady's fan with the agility he
had possessed at eighty, — " Ah, que rCai-je plus mes quatre-
vingt  ans!"  But  certainly Humboldt, with his views of
old age, would  not have wished  to rival Fontenelle; and
the best wish that  can  be offered for the  savants of this
Boston  Natural History Society is that each of them may
deserve  to  have his hundredth birthday celebrated, and
that no  one of them may have the  ill luck to survive
till that occasion.

   Rev.  Frederic  H. Hedge,  D.  D. was  then introduced,
and spoke as follows : —
   Mr. Chairman, — It is  hard gleaning in a field  in which
Agassiz has been with his sickle.   But since you  call upon
me, I will say that  the thing which most impressed me, as
I listened to the discourse  this afternoon, was the psycho-
logical marvel of such a nature as Humboldt's, and the il-
lustration it affords of the capabilities of the human mind.
Here  was a man whose inappeasable greed of knowledge
had appropriated all the science  of his time, who  knew all
that  was known in his  day  of things below and things
above.  The word  " Cosmos,"  the title he  gave to  his
immortal work, is an  apt designation of the mind of the
author, — a mind in which the  universe  mirrored  itself
in all its vastness and all its minuteness, with its  infinitely 
68
great and its no less amazing infinitely little.  Where shall
we  look for the parallel and peer of such a mind ?   To
find his match we have to go back two thousand years.
We cannot stop  at  the name  of Laplace  or  of Buffon ;
these  men  were great in single provinces of science, but
Humboldt  was great in all.  We cannot  stop  at Newton
or Leibnitz, though Newton seems to have gravitated with
a more absolute aplomb to the truth  of fact, and though
Leibnitz pierced with a  finer  apergu to the heart of things.
We cannot stop at Bacon, whose merit is not to have found,
nor even to have  sought with  sincerity, but only to have
taught men what  and how to seek.   We cannot stop till
we come to Aristotle.  And here we have an even parallel.
Between Humboldt and  Aristotle there  are: it seems to me,
some points of striking resemblance.   Both of these sages
mastered and extended the science of their time, — with
this difference in  favor  of the Greek, that he explored the
realm  of ideas as well as of things; with this difference in
favor  of the German, that the science  of things and their
relations — cosmic science — was  a  thousand-fold more
complex and difficult in the  nineteenth century  of  the
Christian  era than in  the fourth of  the  ante-Christian.
Both  were fortunate in  being partakers of  the  recent
stimulus given by a great philosophic movement, — that
of  Socrates in the one case, in the  other that of Kant.
Both  were contemporaries of great world-conquerors  and
shared the impulse imparted  to their  time, — the  one by
Alexander, the other by Napoleon the First.
   Dante called Aristotle " il maestro  di color'  che sanno"
— master among them  that know.   And what better title
can be conferred  upon Humboldt?   Master among them
that know, — the  master  savant. 
69
  Another thing which fills my soul with profound admira-
tion when I think of Humboldt is the heroism of his life, —
a life which exceeded in breadth as well as in length  the
ordinary limits of mortality.   I admire his loyal devotion to
the single aim of extending the area of the human mind.
I admire the indomitable enterprise which  ransacked  the
globe in search of materials with which to build his monu-
mental Cosmos.   I admire no less the indefatigable indus-
try which methodized and shaped those materials for after
ages.   A new standard of the possibilities of a single  life
is  given in what  he was and what he did.   There was no
senescence  in his  experience.  He passed  away  in  the
midst of tasks which the noon of his life bequeathed to its
evening, and which the evening did not seek to escape.
And when he  died it  seemed as  if the civilized  world,
from  the Himalaya to  the Andes, sighed  in  sympathy
with  the going  down  of a man who carried a  universe
in the lobes of his brain, and who counted  an ally and a
friend wherever nature had a student or science a home.
   One thing more.  The Professor  has  told  us of the  ser-
vice  which  Humboldt  rendered  to humanity by freeing
men from the pressure of Jewish  tradition.   I accept  the
statement.   From all that was puerile  and  inadequate in
Jewish  or Jew-Christian theology he was free himself,  and
helped  to  make  others free.   But the  central truth of
Judaism, the truth of Semitic monotheism, was as true to
him as to any before or since.  An impression went abroad
at the time of his death that Humboldt was an atheist.
We all  know how loosely, how unthinkingly, that term is
applied.  That he did not receive the anthropomorphism of
the vulgar conception I can  well suppose. But that he re- 
70
jected the idea of a conscious Intelligence at the heart of
the world — that Intelligence which all his life was spent
in tracing — nothing shall convince me, not even  an un-
guarded saying  of his own.  For  I am  persuaded that
without the belief in such an Intelligence, and a purpose
and a method corresponding therewith, he would not have
had the heart to  prosecute his inquiries.  For what use or
instruction, or what satisfaction would there be in observing
and classifying material phenomena, if those  phenomena
represented no order and obeyed no law?   And when  we
say " Order," Mr. Chairman, and when we  say " Law,"  we
say God.  And when we affirm the constancy of that order
and the certainty of that law, we bear witness of one at
least of the attributes of Deity,— his  unchangeable vera-
city.  Those stated processes which make the life of nature
and which Humboldt so loved to note, — the stars in their
courses, the ever-recurring phases of earth and sky, preces-
sion of equinoxes, succession of seasons, gravitation, mag-
netism,— these  are Nature's comment on  the  text of the
Spirit, " God is true."  And when  Humboldt applied the
methods he had  learned in academic Europe and the laws
announced by students of nature in  other centuries, — ap-
plied these to the measurement of mountains on the other
side of the globe, knowing them to be as apt and applicable
then as in all past time, he unwittingly confessed his -belief
in a God whose " truth endureth through all generations."
  But if, after all, it should prove to be the case — if that
were possible which I deny —that the greatest  scientist of
modern time, in his search after truth, had  missed the first
and most essential of all truths, — the being of God, — what
then ?   Why then I should say that the man himself is the 
71
 most convincing proof of  the truth lie missed.  I should
 feel that  the  marvel of such a  mind, a wonder surpassing
 any of those it explored, must have had its adequate cause ;
 that the finite intelligence which looked  creation through
 presupposes an infinite Intelligence as its origin and ground.
 The highest mortal can only be  explained as the product of
 a more than mortal Power.

   Mr. Ralph  Waldo Emerson,  in  response to a call from
 the Chairman, spoke  to this effect: —
   He  was reluctant  to speak, but  felt  a  cordial sympathy
 in  this day's wide celebration of the memory of  a man who
 had knit the  continents together.   He had this afternoon
 heard  the  delightful  discourse in praise of  Humboldt.
 Our  eminent  Professor had  never delivered a discourse
 more wise, more happy,  or of- more varied  power.  The
 subject was worthy of him.  Humboldt  was one of those
 wonders  of the  world, like Aristotle, like  Julius  Caesar,
 like the  admirable  Crichton,  who appear from time  to
 time, as if to  show us the  possibilities of  the human mind,
 the force and the range of the faculties,—a universal man,
 not only possessed of great  particular  talents, but  they
• were symmetrical; his parts were well put together.  As we
 know, a man's natural powers are often a  sort of committee
 that slowly, one at a time, give their attention and action;
 but Humboldt's  were all united, one electric  chain, so that
 a  university,  a  whole French Academy, travelled in his
 shoes.  With great  propriety, he  named his sketch of the
 results of science " Cosmos."    There  is no other such sur-
 vey or surveyor.  The wonderful Humboldt, with his solid
 centre and expanded wings, marches like an  army, gather- 
72
ing all things as he goes.   How he reaches from science  to
science,  from law to law, folding away moons and as-
teroids and solar systems in the  clauses and parentheses of
his encyclopaedic paragraphs!   There is no book like it,
none indicating such a battalion  of powers.  You could not
put him on any  sea or shore, but his instant recollection of
every other sea or  shore illuminated this.  He was properly
a man of the world ; you could not lose him ; you could not
detain him ; you could not disappoint him, for at any point
on  land or  sea he found  the  objects  of his  researches.
When he was stopped in Spain and could not get away, he
turned round and interpreted their mountain  system, ex-
plaining  the  past history of the  continent of Europe.  He
belonged to that wonderful German nation, the foremost
scholars in all history, who surpass all  others in industry,
space, and endurance.   A German reads a literature whilst
we  are reading  a  book.  One of  their writers warns his
countrymen  that 't is not the Battle of Leipsic, but the
Leipsic-Fair Catalogue, which raises them above the French.
I remember that Cuvier tells us of fossil elephants ; that Ger-
many has furnished the greatest number ; — not because
there are more elephants in Germany, — 0 no ;  but because
in that empire there is  no canton without some well-informed
person capable of making researches and publishing inter-
esting results.  I know that we have been accustomed  to
think they were too  good scholars, that because they re-
flect they never resolve, that "  in a  crisis no  plan-maker
was to be found in the empire " ; but we have  lived to see
now, for the second time in the history of Prussia, a States-
man of the first  class, with a clear  head and an  inflexible
will. 
73
  Professor E. J. Young was next called upon, and made
the following remarks, introducing interesting autographic
letters from Humboldt: —

  I have  been asked to give some  personal recollections
of the great man who has  been honored throughout the
world to-day.  Everything is of interest that relates  to
him who commanded, not only the esteem and reverence,
but the affection of all who knew him; and his name is
deservedly dear to all Americans, for he felt the deepest
interest in our country, and he  was always the firm sup-
porter of  liberal  principles.
  It is from a sense of personal obligation and gratitude,
as one who was privileged to share in his universal benevo-
lence, that  I am  prompted to speak of him.  Being in
Berlin during  the  Christmas holidays  in 1854, and hav-
ing a letter of introduction, I  called, with  a  friend and
fellow-countryman, for the  purpose  of  seeing  him.  He
lived  in  a  plain, unpretending house  in Oranienburger
Strasse.   We rang the bell, when the outer  door  opened,
and we ascended the staircase to the second story, where
we  saw his  name  upon the door.   We rang again here,
when an attendant appeared, and we inquired if his " Ex-
cellency " was  at home.  This  was  the  title by which  he
was addressed, which had been conferred upon him by the
Kins  when  he  made him one  of  his Privy Councillors.
We were  conducted into his library, which is  so  familiar
to all through  the well-known prints, and then we entered
his  study, which  was a small room with a table, a green-
covered sofa, maps upon the wall, and books  and papers
lying  about.   Presently he came  in and greeted  us very
                  7 
74
cordially.   His  frame was slightly bent,  his  head was
silvered, but his eye beamed with  its  wonted  brightness.
We  could  not  but  feel a  certain awe in  presence  of
the man  who  had  laid the world under such obligations
to him, whose name was  a household word  in  both  hemi-
spheres, and who, in a city distinguished for its great men,
was  the  foremost  of them  all.  There was,  however,  a
benignity  on his  countenance  and   an affableness in his
manner, that removed all restraint  and made us feel per-
fectly at  home.
  He at once addressed us in English, and spoke with great
animation, fluency, and rapidity.  The  conversation turned
upon English literature, and he alluded to several  authors,
and  surprised us by his familiarity  with them.  He  spoke
of himself, and said that he was accustomed to work till
midnight, when he took a few hours' sleep, and then  began
his work again.  He expressed much dissatisfaction at the
ecclesiastical and political reaction that was then going on,
with which he had not the least sympathy.  He had great
contempt for  all time-servers and trimmers; and  an anec-
dote is told of him that on one occasion he called a visitor's
attention to a  chameleon  which had been lately sent to him,
saying: " This creature has the remarkable faculty of being
able to turn one eye up to heaven, while he keeps the other
on the earth.  Many church officers can do the same."  He
referred  to our own country, and gave utterance to his ab-
horrence of the system of slavery, while he mentioned with
peculiar interest the Free States, showing himself to be,  as
he said he was, " half an American."   We could not but
be surprised  and  delighted to hear  these words at  that
time from one who was the  friend of the King and the 
75
chief  ornament of his court.   Humboldt never disguised
his adherence  to the liberal party, and he was  even called
a French Jacobin because of his democratic principles.  As
we were  about to leave, he pointed to a striking statuette
of Immanuel Kant, remarking  particularly upon his figure
and dress, and expressing great  admiration for his char-
acter.
  What  impressed  me  most in this interview  was the vi-
vacity, freshness, and enthusiasm of the venerable man,
— for he was then eighty-five  years of age, — and at the
same  time the grace and  courtesy which marked all his
movements.   He listened with the closest attention to our
words, and his conversation was  marked by that geniality
of spirit which gives  such a charm to all his writings.  I
came away grateful for the privilege which I had enjoyed
of conversing with  the  most eminent man of  the  century,
and  feeling that it was worth a voyage across the Atlantic
to have  seen  him.
  In  the following year, being engaged in translating an
elaborate History of German Philosophy, and well know-
ing the  difficulties  and discouragements — growing  out
of the  popular impression in  regard to the tendency of
such  studies — which  must be  encountered, I  obtained
from  some  of the  most distinguished theologians  and
philosophers   certain  testimonials which  I  proposed to
print in a Prospectus,  hoping  thus to be able  to  publish
the work.  Remembering  the  kindness  with which I  had
been  received by Baron Humboldt, and his interest in our
country, I ventured to  write to him, stating my plans  and
asking if he  was disposed to  append any remarks in re-
gard  to  this study, considering it from his own  point of 
76
view.  He  at  once wrote to me  a most cordial letter, in
which he says: —
  "Erdmann's History of Philosophy  is well calculated
to remove  objections, to stimulate mental activity, and to
benefit also the physical sciences, by leading to a reflective
study of the phenomena which are given to  us by experi-
ence.  I gladly promise you not only a recommendation,
but  a  warm appeal to those in America who look with
favor upon my own  writings.  I add  a request,  that  if
the antediluvian old  man  does not send what he  promises
during  the week  before  your departure, you will simply
send  me word, ' I leave Halle  on such  a day.'  I am
very particular in regard to  matters which  I consider im-
portant."
  After  a  few days the  paper came.   Omitting  what  is
said of  the original  and the translation, it  is,  rendered
into English, as follows : —
  " The author and  the  translator are not unaware that
a certain prejudice  against German  Philosophy,  originat-
ing in  ignorance of the subject  and  in misunderstanding
of  its  religious bearings,  prevails in  many  countries, and
especially in  the  Free States of  North America, where
scientific culture  has  made  such excellent  and  already
fruitful progress.   Mental freedom is far more difficult  to
acquire than political freedom, and the forms of the latter
sometimes pave the way but slowly  to the  attainment  of
the former.  Tendencies  which are unfavorable to an un-
restricted freedom of inquiry, and which attempt to shut
out from it certain regions  of the world of thought, are
productive of injury, inasmuch as by so doing they cause
narrowness of view even  in regard to those  subjects where
it is permitted. 
77
  " With the wholly objective tendency of my mind, which
has  been induced by travel and  a very checkered life ;
with  my simple  endeavor  to  discover the  laws which
connect natural phenomena as the  results  of experimental
science,  my works can  make no  claim to the rank  of a
rational   (or  speculative)  science  of  nature.   Having
turned  aside  from the  path  of pure philosophical specu-
lation, by which my never-to-be-forgotten brother, William
von Humboldt, gave  strength and brilliancy  alike to his
assthetic writings as well as to his  treatise upon the struc-
ture  of  languages, I feel myself called to  warmly rec-
ommend the  present work  in consequence of the  deep
respect which  in  my long career  I have always expressed
in favor of philosophical  research,  and the inspiring  in-
fluence which it has exerted on the  whole science of nature;
and I have been  opposed  only to  the perversion of man's
noble  faculties, when it has resulted in  a  dogmatic and
contracted  Philosophy  of Nature, which  fancied  itself
perfect.
   " The increase  of  philosophical  studies is especially the
need of  an age  in  which the gigantic  advances of the
mechanical and chemical sciences are giving such  a  favor-
able  impulse  to  the  industrial  pursuits  of nations, and
when at the same time  the general  desire to  obtain infor-
mation which may be readily applied within  very narrow
spheres__growing out of the  division of productive labor —
"threatens to keep men  from aspiring after higher knowl-
edge and a broader  range of thought.  The seeking after
what is  useful for material ends, which is irresistible and
praiseworthy in itself, does not retard the intellectual  life
of nations (as experience shows), when along with it  an
                   7* 
78
interest is fostered for those studies which  enrich  the
mind with logically connected  ideas, and call  forth  the
ennobling images  of creative fancy.
  " The translation of German philosophical works into a
language  which is extended over a  large  portion of  the
earth,  and,  unhindered in its diffusion, will soon occupy
a still greater area, has  an importance which cannot be
overestimated, since whatever relates to  the  differences
in the races  of men,  to  their division  into species,  and
to the organic structure of languages, cannot be  success-
fully  investigated  or portrayed without a  knowledge of
what  profound  thinkers have already  explored.  A con-
siderable part of  the  material which travellers have  col-
lected  is almost useless for Ethnography and Comparative
Philology, because the collectors have  been  deficient in
leading ideas.  In  both sections  of the New  World,  and
wherever  English  and North American ships  penetrate, a
wide field lies open for observation.   What German, Dan-
ish, English, and North American missionaries have already
done  most creditably  and intelligently  in  this respect,  is
not ignored in this  general  statement.
  "In thus bringing  together the various  considerations
which  give  a manifold importance  to  this difficult  and
valuable undertaking, I believe that, in recommending a
book so weighty and instructive, I can  appeal  with  confi-
dence to those in the  New  World who retain a  friendly
recollection  of my  own labors.
                        "ALEXANDER  VON HUMBOLDT.
  "Potsdam, 2 June, 1855." 
79
  This paper was  accompanied  by the  following note, in
German : —
                       " Berlin, 3 June, 1855.  In the night.
  " I hope, dear sir, that this somewhat too hastily written
fragment will  come  at  the right  time into your hands.
The returning  illness of the King had  drawn me to Pots-
dam, whence I have returned this evening.  Since  I pos-
sess no copy of this, I beg you speedily to inform me that
it  has  come safely into your hands.   Where  I  say that
mental  freedom is more difficult  to  attain than political
freedom, I might have cited  the fanaticism of  the Protes-
tants of Geneva and Holland.
   " I enclose  a warm recommendation to Bunseh, whose
name in England stands  higher  than  almost any  other
German name.  Show  him my  opus, however, in a clear
copy, which I am unable Jo send you ; since, although from
twenty-five  hundred  to three thousand  letters  circulate
every year  from my hand,  I have  an abhorrence  of all
private  secretaries."

   I have read these  papers, which have never been  made
public  before, because  they show  the man, — his  kind-
ness of heart, his liberal spirit, his interest in true culture
and in the intellectual development of  our country.   I
need not say how deeply I was moved on  receiving  them,
and that I  prize  them among my choicest treasures.  It
seems  to me  that they contain most timely words,  which
are  worthy  of being  considered by our people, especially
now when the study of Philosophy is  beginning to receive
more attention, and  a new course  of lectures is to  be de-
voted to it in our own University.   They testify also  to the 
80
 breadth and largeness of that mind, which could appreciate
 the value of what might have been thought foreign to his
 pursuits, but  to  which  no department of  learning  was
 foreign  or unimportant.  His knowledge  was universal.
 He was a monarch in the realm  of science.   And  no king
 ever received  more  loyalty  and devotion than were paid
 to him.   He needed no rank or title.  He had the volun-
 tary homage  of all classes.  But his real  crown  was  his
 character.  He was  as remarkable  for his genial, kindly,
 disinterested  qualities, as he was for his intellectual gifts.
 There was  in  him  that  beautiful  blending of  dignity and
 simplicity, of learning  and modesty, of genius, liberality,
 goodness, and  grace,  which  constitutes  true greatness.
 This has  caused  him  to be idolized by his countrymen,
 and to be honored by  the world.

   The  Chairman   stated  that  an  order had been  given
 to Mr. Wight (the artist who painted from life the portrait
 of Humboldt)  to execute an exact  copy of that painting.
 This work would now be  unveiled, and  if it  should  prove
 in  every  respect satisfactory,  the  Chairman would  take
 great pleasure in presenting  it, on this centennial  anniver-
 sary, to the Boston  Society of Natural History.
  The covering was removed, and,  standing there  upon
 the  artist's easel, the resemblance was  so  perfect to  the
 original portrait which stood by its side, as  to call  forth
 spontaneous applause.
  In connection with the  portrait the  artist had  written
the following interesting  account of Humboldt: — 
81
" Rev. R. C. Waterston : —
  " Dear Sir, — You have  requested me to give some ac-
count of  Humboldt, whose portrait I  had the  honor to
paint.   I  beg  leave briefly to state that  in  1852 I  saw
him in  Berlin.  He was at that time eighty-three years of
age.  The first interview was  on  the occasion of. his sit-
ting for the portrait in February of that year.   I found
him a. man rather below  the medium  stature, dressed
with the utmost  simplicity, in black.  His  step was mod-
erate, but firm and  decided,  with his  head a little in-
clined  forward.   In conversation his  face  would  glow
with enthusiasm,  and his small clear  eyes sparkle  with
animation.   He  was  apparently  very  tenacious  of his
time.   There  were five sittings.   I  found  him  always
prompt to the minute.   Knowing that he had  received
several  decorations from crowned heads,  I asked him  if
he  wished me  to  represent any of them in his portrait;
he replied that he preferred it should be  painted without
any ornament  whatever.  He  spoke of  his pleasant visit
to the  United States, and took great  interest  in the af-
fairs of our country.   At his house he showed me  sev-
eral pencil drawings  of mountain  scenery made by his
own hand, very  carefully done,  and  as  carefully  pre-
served.
  "My studio  was in  Franzosisch Strasse.  His residence
was in  another part of the city, where he lived  in a plain,
substantial building, in a quiet and unostentatious manner.
As  soon  as it became known that a portrait  was being
painted of Humboldt,  a  lively  interest was manifested
upon the subject, particularly among  the American resi-
dents and students, an unusually large number of whom 
82
were  at  that  season  in  Berlin.  On each  sitting he was
accompanied  by a valet, who attended  him  up  stairs,
and either left or remained in the  hall until the allotted
time  for sitting within  expired, when  Humboldt  imme-
diately  arose,  and,  politely taking his leave,  departed.
An interesting conversation  was   kept up at  intervals
during the  sittings, at  two or three of which  the Hon.
Theo. S. Fay, our  Charge  d'Affaires  in  Prussia, was
present.   When the  portrait of the great naturalist was
completed, many persons, citizens   and strangers, as well
as artists, and among the latter Cornelius, famed  for his
magnificent cartoons and frescos in church, palace, and
cathedral,  and  Rauch,  the immortal  sculptor  and  au-
thor  of the statue  of Frederick the Great, together with
other  personal friends   of  Humboldt,  came  to  see  it.
Before  the  portrait was  sent  to   America  it  was  ex-
hibited  to  the citizens  in  the grand  hall  of the Art
Union of Berlin.
   " It affords me great pleasure to place in your hands the
original  portrait of Humboldt, to  be  used on  this occa-
sion of the  centennial celebration of his birth.   The copy
of the portrait  which you desired  is  now completed.   I
consider it  as  faithful a likeness, in every respect, as the
original.
         " Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
                                            "M. WIGHT.
  "Boston, Sept. 8, 1869."

   Accompanying  the above was an  autograph  note of
Humboldt addressed  to the  artist, which was  also pre-
sented by the Chairman to  the Natural History  Society. 
83
  Dr. Charles T. Jackson, "Vice-President of the Society,
accepted in  its behalf the portrait of Humboldt with ex-
pression of  thanks.  Humboldt himself had declared the
original portrait by Wight the best of himself ever painted ;
and all present would see that this copy by the same artist
resembled the original as much as possible.
  He compared the  painting with a very fine  photograph,
presented  to the Society this day by Mrs. D. Jay Browne,
in which  every one  might  notice  how perfectly the ex-
pression  of  Humboldt had been  caught by  Mr. Wight in
his picture.
   Dr. Jackson then related some personal  reminiscences
of Humboldt, whom he often  met  in Paris  in  1830, at
Cuvier's Lectures on the History of the Natural Sciences,
at the Academy of Sciences, at General La  Fayette's, and
at Baron  Ferrusac's soirees.
   He remarked that the materials collected by Humboldt
in Mexico had not been exhausted in  1830, for he heard
him read several papers on the  physical geography  and
geology of Mexico at the Academy, where he  was listened
to with the most earnest attention by that  illustrious as-
sembly.  It was amusing to see  how Cuvier  managed to
prevent M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire from making his  com-
munications on his favorite theme of Transcendental Anat-
omy by  calling for a valuable  communication  from Hum-
boldt the moment he saw  Geoffroy preparing  to  speak,
while the  great popularity of Humboldt was sure to cause
the President to call upon  him to address  the Academy.
Humboldt was all the  time unconscious of  the fact  that
he was  interfering with the communications of the  illus-
trious comparative  anatomist.   Cuvier was strongly  op-
posed to Geoffroy St. Hilaire's theories. 
84
  The power of prediction  in  matters of science  has  al-
ways attracted the attention of mankind.  Murchison has
great  credit for predicting the gold in Australia long before
it was actually discovered.  He judged  from the geologi-
cal  character of the rocks  of that country, specimens of
which had been brought to England.   Humboldt had also
this happy scientific  power, and, from the law of associa-
tion of minerals, predicted the discovery of diamonds and
platinum  in  the United  States.  He wrote  to  Professor
Tellkampf, " Diamonds and platinum  must  be  found in
the gold deposits of the United States  (see  my work on
the Ural  Mountains).   I  have  asked  for years if they
have  been found,  and nobody  will answer me."  Profes-
sor Tellkampf placed this letter in the hands of  Dr. Jack-
son, who  read it  at the next  meeting of the American
Society of Geologists  and  Naturalists,  and  a committee
was  appointed to investigate  the matter.  At  the  next
year's meeting  of that Society diamonds  were  reported
to be found  in the Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia
gold  deposits, and in 1850 platinum  was found in  the
placers of California  by Mr.  George 0.  Barnes,  a  pupil
of Dr.  Jackson, and  a sample of it was  sent  to Hum-
boldt.   So his prophecy was fufillled.
  Dr. Jackson next called  attention  to Humboldt's  prep-r
arations for his  scientific travels, as a good suggestion to
young travellers who  wish  to accomplish the largest pos-
sible  amount  of work.  Humboldt served a regular  ap-
prenticeship in  learning how to  make  the best observa-
tions  and  to collect and preserve all  objects of Natural
History, before he set  forth on  his journey to Mexico  and
South America.   From the astronomer  he learned how to 
85
obtain faultless elements for the  determination of latitude
and longitude.  He likewise learned how to make the best
geodesic measurements, how to observe meteorological phe-
nomena, and make the proper records.  From the taxider-
mist and botanist he learned the manner of preparing his
collections of animals and plants;  from the arboriculturist,
how to  make  roots grow on the  branch  of an adult tree,
so  that  he could  bring home a  fruit-bearing part of it
that would thrive in  the  green-houses  of  Europe.   So
thorough was Humboldt's  training that  he  was able  to
sweep  the whole field of science  in his  travels.   He was
a  thorough mineralogist  and geologist, — a pupil of  the
illustrious Werner.   He studied chemistry  and  physics
with  Gay-Lussac,  The'nard,  Biot, and Arago in  France;
and thus this many-sided  scientist was  one of the most,
jf not  the most  competent observer  that ever set forth to
explore the works of nature in a new field for  science.
   There may be specialists  greater in their particular de-
partments than Humboldt;  but for grand views,  universal
grasp,  and comprehensive  generalizations, Humboldt was
never  equalled  and  probably will  never  be surpassed.
His love  for America and American institutions, and his
kindness  to  such of our fellow-countrymen  as  had  the
honor  of meeting him, is known  to all.

   The chairman  remarked, that,  looking upon the many
eminent men  by whom he  was surrounded, all  of whom
it would be a privilege to hear, he felt  embarrassed by the
very affluence of  riches.  But time in its flight  was  in-
exorable, and in  the present  instance  courtesy was specially
due to the city in which we  had  assembled, whose official
                  8 
86
representatives favored us this evening  by their  presence,
as they had also in the afternoon at  the  Music Hall.   He
therefore  would  call upon  his  Honor the Mayor.
   Mayor  Shurtleff, in responding, said that after  the elo-
quent  addresses already made it would not be expected  of
him to speak otherwise than briefly.   The city of Boston
being desirous of expressing its respect for  the   memory
of Alexander von Plumboldt, resolutions had been passed
and a  generous  appropriation made, while  a committee
chosen  from both branches of the  City  Government had
appointed him to speak upon this occasion.   In  their  be-
half it was now his pleasure to invite all present to partake
of a collation prepared for  them in  the hall below.
   On this invitation  the company cheerfully adjourned to
the lower hall,  to  partake  of  the elegant repast, during
which  the Germania Band  at intervals  added  their en-
livening music to the  entertainment.
   After the company had sufficiently refreshed  themselves
with the delicacies of the table, the chairman invited their
attention  to the following poem, prepared for the occasion
by Dr. Oliver Wendell  Holmes.

 BONAPARTE, Aug. 15th, 1769.—HUMBOLDT, Sept. 14th,  1769.

       Ere yet the warning chimes of midnight sound,
          Set back the flaming index of the year,
       Track the swift-shifting seasons in their round
         Through five score circles of the  swinging sphere.

       Lo, in yon islet of the midland sea
         That cleaves the storm-cloud with its snowy crest,
       The embryo heir of empires yet to  be,
         A month-old babe upon his mother's breast 
87
Those little hands, that soon shall grow so strong
  In their rude grasp great thrones shall rock and fall,
Press her soft bosom, while a nursery song
  Holds the world's master in its slender thrall.

Look!  a new crescent bends its silver bow ;
  A new-lit star has fired the eastern sky ;
Hark!  by the river where the lindens blow
  A waiting household hears an infant's cry.

This, too, a conqueror !   His the vast domain,
  Wider than widest sceptre-shadowed lands ;
Earth, and the weltering kingdom of the main
  Laid their broad charters in his royal hands.

His was no taper lit in cloistered cage,
  Its glimmer borrowed from the grove or porch;
He read the record of the planet's page
  By Etna's glare and Cotopaxi's torch.
He heard the voices of the pathless woods ;
   On the salt steppes he saw the starlight shine;
 He scaled the mountain's windy solitudes,
   And trod the galleries of the breathless mine.
For him no fingering of the love-strung lyre,
  No problem vague, by torturing schoolmen vexed ;
 He fed no broken altar's dying fire,
   Nor  skulked and scowled behind a Rabbi's text.

 For God's new truth he claimed the kingly robe
   That priestly shoulders counted all their own,
 Unrolled the gospel of the storied globe,
   And led young Science to her empty throne.

 While  the round planet on its axle spins
   One fruitful year shall boast its double birth,
 And show the cradles of its mighty twins,
   Master and Servant of the sons of earth. 
        Which wears the garland that shall never fade,
          Sweet with fair memories that can never die ?
        Ask not the marbles where their bones are laid,
          But bow thine ear to hear thy brothers' cry: —

        " Tear up the despot's laurels by the root,
          Like mandrakes shrieking as they quit the soil !
        Feed us no more upon the blood-red fruit
          That sucks its crimson from the heart  of Toil !
        " We c(aim the  food that fixed our mortal fate;
          Bend to our reach the long-forbidden  tree I
        The angel frowned at Eden's eastern gate,—■
          Its western portal is forever free !

        " Bring the white blossoms of the waning year,
          Heap with  full hands the  peaceful conqueror's shrine
        Whose bloodless triumphs cost no sufferer's tear  !
          Hero of knowledge, be our tribute thine! "

   After  an  interval  the  following poem,  written  for  the
occasion by  Mrs.  Julia Ward  Howe, was read by Colonel
Higginson.

         Give me, O Nature, from thy summer teaching,
          A strophe for thy priest, immortal made;
         Let me, too, pluck, with timid hand outreaching,
          A duteous  chaplet for his regal head.

         Shine out, O West! illumined by his traces,
          Ere the cramped world took notice of thy state;
         He gave the  record of thy  virgin graces,
          And in prophetic vision saw thy fate.

         Ye lifted points of flame, ye wide savannahs,
          Ye mighty streams, of mountain mothers fed, —
         To you, from courtly halls and blazoned banners,
          The inner deep command his footsteps led. 
89
         Ye fair Auroras with your shafts uprearing,
           Celestial architecture solved in light,
         He knew the limits of the swift careering
           With which you build the lofty dome of night.

         0 beauteous World, with wooers and adorers,
           Eager thy favors and thy gifts to claim,
         Keep thy best tribute for thy true explorers,
           The Saints of study, reverenced in name.

         And this one, from the treasury of science,
           Where minds perplexed must pass with mystic sign,
         Loosing the gates, with masterful compliance
           Gave to the multitude her gift divine.

         Thus gives the great man, — every footstep taken
           Carries remembrance of some human need.
         While the high Truth he worships, unforsaken,
           Vouchsafes the light for which his labors plead.

         No idle pomp nor futile joy delays him,
           Sped on the earnest errands of the age ;
         He cannot pause when kings and courtiers praise him:
           Too short the daylight  is, too wide the page.

         A paradise was his, where, trim as flowers,
           The studious book-shelves bore the growth of thought,
         A citadel of service, Avhose fair towers
           Took the first message  that the morning brought.

         Seer of the inward vein and outward  blossom,
           Master of laws that nurture  and control,
         He learns, dark Mother, in thy hidden bosom,
           The unimagined secret of the soul.

   During the evening  the  following communications were
read : —
                     8* 
90
From Professor William B. Rogers, President of the Massachusetts Institute
                       of Technology.
  " Prudence," he  writes,  " forbids my sharing in an  oc-
casion of so much excitement.  I must  content myself to
keep  the day at home, doing homage in my heart to  the
great scientific  traveller,  the organizer of  the  sciences
which compose  the 'Physics  of the  Globe,' — the Phi-
losopher of the Cosmos, whose comprehensive learning and
versatile observation have  been the  admiration  and  the
guide of more than two generations of scientific explorers."

             From the Honorable Theodore S. Fay.
                           "Berlin (Prussia), August 26, 1869.
" To the Rev. R. C. Waterston.
   " Dear  Sir, — Your letter  of July 29, stained  but still
legible, from the wreck of the Germania, came this morn-
ing.  I suppose  Alexander von  Humboldt, as a  world-in-
tellect, ranks with  Plato and Aristotle.  It would be pre-
sumption in me, in the presence of such men as Agassiz,
Dana, &c,  to  offer any  particular  opinion  of him as a
scholar.  I will say a  word of him  as  a man.  It was my
privilege, while Secretary of Legation  in  Berlin, to pass
sixteen years in constant communication with  him.   Were
I to  give all my reminiscences, it would much prolong this
letter.  Here are  two or three.   I was surprised  to  find
in so profound a thinker  and scholar a continual  play of
 almost boyish humor.  He said to me one day, with an
 open letter in his  hand, which he  had just received from
 America, informing him  that a river had been named for
 him: ' I wish you to know that I am a river about three
 hundred  and fifty miles long; I have not many tributaries, 
91
nor  much  timber, but I am full of fish.'  One summer I
passed a month at Doberan, a  sea-bath in Mecklenburg-
Schwerin.  Humboldt had addressed a letter to me there,
and  a word came  from the  legation asking whether I had
received it.  As I  had not, I wrote him expressing my ap-
prehension that  it  might be lost.   The return post brought
his reply.  ' Do not be afraid.   I wrote my name on  the
envelope, and  I  hope my fame has reached even to Meck-
lenburg-Schwerin.'   With his humor there was a fine,  not
quite sufficiently repressed irony, of which  I will give you
one trifling example.   He was present at one of our Berlin-
American  dinners, — I believe   on the fourth of  July.
After  many more or less brilliant speeches  had been  let
off, his neighbor said, 'Does not this  fatigue you?'   He
replied, ' Ach  nein, ich kann sehr viel  entragen,' —' 0  no,
I can bear a great  deal.'
   "He showed a singular trust  that what he said would be
considered  confidential by all present, — so  with his letters.
He had a truly benevolent heart. He could never  do
enough for those who required  his  assistance, and  he had
a  delicate  sympathy,  remarkable at so advanced  an  age
and amid  such absorbing occupations.   The Americans at
Berlin once expressed to  me their desire to meet  him in
society.  I deemed it most  proper to  mention  this to  my
chef, who accordingly invited him,  and all  the  Americans
in Berlin.  A short time after Humboldt expressed to  me
the wish to meet my countrymen  at my house.  I  invited
them.   Humboldt   was the   first  who arrived.  He  en-
chanted everybody by his affable  conversation, and he was
the very last person, late in the night, to go  away.
   He watched with interest the rise of eminent men  in our 
92
country, and  the political course of each  administration.
He spoke constantly with enthusiasm of Agassiz and Dana.
He was a thorough, out-and-out antislavery man, and a fear-
less defender of the cause of human rights in every nation.
He once, with a certain degree of solemnity, intrusted to
me a message to be  delivered to my countrymen.   ' Tell
them,' he  said, ' we are  lost in wonder at the development
of science in the United States ;  but we  are filled  with
pain and apprehension at the  demoralization.'  I told him
he  did  ' not understand  our country:  it  was a  battle-
ground.  He must  not  mistake  a corrupt class  for the
people ;  the  United States would return from their down-
ward path and be regenerated.'
  " I must cut short  my souvenirs.  I desire, however, to
mention one more.  I not only entertain for this illustrious
person the admiration which inspires all civilized nations,
but a warm, grateful,  personal friendship.   In  one instance
his friends have a right to complain that his confidence had
been violated by an act more than imprudent.  I have ob-
served indications in Europe that some parties will attempt
to convert the celebration of  his centennial anniversary
into  a demonstration in  favor of materialism and atheism.
The  endeavor to overthrow the idea of a God, now being
renewed  in  Europe, he knew very well is as old  as the
tower of Babel, and  as ridiculous as the attempt to  build
the tower that it might ' reach  unto heaven.'   Humboldt
never favored it, and I am convinced he would frown upon
any  effort to identify his name with this  movement.  In
science  he confined himself to facts, and warned the stu-
dent  of  nature  not  to receive  even apparently demon-
strated  scientific  systems without  caution.   ' Do  not,' 
                           93

he wrote, ' confound that which is  based only on imper-
fect induction with that which has been reduced to mathe-
matical certainty.'  He states scientific facts with impar-
tiality and purity; and was far  above the vulgar fault of
leaping  to  conclusions because  they favor preconceived
theories.  I once entered  his room  while he held in his
hand a letter, which he threw upon the table with an air of
indignation, saying, ' Here  is a man who  charges me with
not believing in God.'
  " I thank you for the invitation to be present at the cele-
bration,  which,  of course,  my  temporary absence  from
America  renders impossible.  With  the  highest regard,
           " I am, dear sir, most truly yours,
                                  "THEODORE S. FAY."

From Rev.  Noah Porter, Professor of Moral Philosophy and Metaphysics,
                       in Yale College.

  " It was in the Christmas recess of 1853 - 54 that I saw the
late Baron von Humboldt.  At the urgent request of some
seven or eight American gentlemen, most of them students
in the University of Berlin, I addressed him a line asking
the privilege of paying  our respects to him in a body.  To
this he replied in a very courteous note, in which  he ex-
pressed his gratification at the request, and proposed that
we  should meet him in two divisions  at two  successive
hours.  This  arrangement  we considered  very  extraordi-
nary, and  it  gratified  us not a  little.  At the hour ap-
pointed for the first division, we  applied  for admission at
his well-known city residence, and after some delay, and as
the  result of some  persistent explanations, we  were  con-
ducted through the long suite of apartments to the recep- 
94
tion-room which adjoined his private study.  He  soon ap-
peared, and we were all  struck  with  the  peculiarities of
his  person.  His very long  and lofty  head, upon a short
neck, slightly inclined forward and to  one  side, made him
appear shorter than  he really was.   His flesh  and skin
seemed very delicate  and  bloodless, the result  of extreme
old  age  and  constant care.   His person and  dress were
scrupulously, almost excessively neat, as  became the cour-
tier and the constant  attendant upon the King.   His man-
ner towards each of us was exceedingly  cordial and kind,
and he placed us at once at our ease by some personal in-
quiries in  respect to  our  studies  and  employments.   We
were somewhat abashed in  his presence, as  was natural,
and our attention was divided between studying  the  man
and suggesting the topics of conversation  upon which we
desired to hear him speak.   We very early  noticed that he
talked with marvellous ease, rapidity, and fluency, and that
it was only necessary to start a topic, and he was ready to
discourse  with fulness  and  fluency.  His voice was  ex-
ceedingly pleasant, and nothing could  be more bland  than
his manner of expressing his always pronounced and  posi-
tive opinions.   The duty fell  upon me, as the oldest of the
company, of rather  leading the conversation, but I cannot
be certain that all the topics introduced  by him or myself
will recur to me, as I  endeavor to  recall them, or that those
which do present themselves will occur in the order in
which they were talked of.
  '• We spoke somewhat of his health and  his habits of study
and of life.  He said that his uniform habit, even  then, was
to read till about two  in the morning, and that he had rare-
ly used, and did not then use, glasses of any kind  to aid his 
95
 vision.   His time in the day was chiefly occupied in corre-
 spondence,  in receiving visits, and  in attendance upon the
 King, or  consultation with him  as Privy Councillor, and  it
 had become absolutely necessary for him to use the hours
 of night for study and reading.
   " In answer to some of his inquiries, or in connection with
 some personal remarks, I mentioned  the name of the  late
 Professor Silliman, who had visited him some two years be-
 fore, and  whose sketch of Humboldt, as he appeared to  him
 at the interview, given in the  Professor's most elaborate
 manner, had a few weeks before  been copied into the papers
 of Berlin.  In that  sketch the Professor had said that  the
 Baron had reminded him of his friend  Colonel Trumbull.
 As soon as I spoke of Professor Silliman and the interview,
 he abruptly asked, ' And who was Colonel Trumbull.'  I
 was amused  at the earnestness and suddenness with which
 he asked  the question, and was  for a moment nonplussed.
 I  happened to  remember that he was once the aid of Gen-
 eral Washington, and  so  replied.   The answer seemed to
 satisfy him.
   " There had been some renewed notice in the Continental
 papers about that time of the practicability and desirable-
 ness of connecting  the Atlantic and  Pacific by a canal
 across the Isthmus of Darien, and as this  subject was in-
 troduced  to Humboldt, he spoke of it  with great interest
 and enthusiasm, and  dwelt  upon it at some length,  de-
 scribed the most feasible route with great minuteness from
 his own personal recollections, naming  every stream, pass,
 and place which he had traversed in  person, speaking of
each with  the distinctness  of a fresh remembrance.   Noth-
ing impressed me more than  the singular power of  retain- 
96
ing the facts and details which  concerned any subject that
was introduced, and in respect to no subject was this power
more  strikingly illustrated  than in this.  As he spoke, the
enthusiasm of the old  traveller seemed  to be  reawakened
as he  pictured to himself anew the scenery of the Isthmus
which he had visited so many years before.
   " He spoke  of our  country with great kindness, making
some  emphatic  protests  against  slavery and  the Ostend
manifesto, which was, at  that  time, very  fresh  in the
thoughts  of the  Europeans.  He also discoursed  of Mor-
monism, and  seemed greatly to enjoy telling of the way in
which  two Mormon preachers had  been circumvented by
his counsel in their efforts to make proselytes in Berlin.
These  preachers, as he said, had  applied to the President
of the Police for permission to hold meetings, and the mat-
ter had in some way  been referred to  Humboldt for his
opinion as to what should be said in answer.   The answer
which he advised was that' the  preachers would be allowed
full liberty, under the laws of Prussia, to preach  their re-
ligious doctrines, but  that  if they inculcated any practices
which  were criminal  by the laws of the  kingdom,  they
would be liable to arrest.'  The Baron seemed  to  take
great  pleasure in telling this story, and enjoyed not a little
the shrewdness  of the advice by which  the Mormons were
circumvented.
   " I took some  pains to introduce the name of his brother
William, knowing that he was said to hold his memory very
dear,  and he responded  with great cordiality, and was
pleased when I said that the last book which I  had read be-
fore leaving home was his brother's great work  upon lan-
guage.  This reminds  me that  he inquired with great ear- 
-97
nestness and minuteness what acquaintances I had made in
Berlin.  When I mentioned Schelling  among the number,
he said that was well, and added slyly,  as it seemed to me :
'He is always  busy, — writes a treatise and  then burns it
from dissatisfaction, and then commences again.'  He was
too courteous, of course, to  say, or even  to seem to imply,
that it would be well if all metaphysicians did the same.
  "Another incident may seem trifling, but it illustrates
one side of his  character.  As we were passing out through
the apartments, our attention was directed to two little stat-
uettes in porcelain of Kant and Lessing, after the originals
by Rauch, which are attached  to  the  equestrian statue of
Frederick the  Great.  He  commented upon them, prefer-
ring greatly the modest and somewhat  plain figure of Kant
to the studied  and courtly bearing which is  given to Les-
sing, dwelling upon the contrast at some length.  He then
turned to me and said: ' You must procure the statuette of
Kant and take it with you to America.  You will find  no
difficulty in carrying it.  They will pack it for you at the
Royal Manufactory in a little box,  so that you can carry it
safely in your  portmanteau.'  This was as we were taking
our  leave.   We sat with  him in all some  half or three
quarters of an  hour, he, all the while, pouring forth a quiet
stream of talk, which, for the gentle  and rich exhilarat-
ing impression  which  it left, enabled me to understand,
as never before, the beauty of the comparison to the falling
snow which Homer applies to the words of old Nestor.  He
seemed  desirous to  detain us  longer  than  we  thought it
courteous to remain,  saying, when we rose  to  leave, that
the hour had not expired, and there were many things more
to talk about.   When we left this dignified yet quiet abode
                  9 
98
of research and science, and emerged from the spell of his
presence and his pleasant discourse into the sunlight of the
gay streets of Berlin, at Christmas, we could  not but feel
the contrast between what was without and within.
  " I write from recollection only, and have, doubtless, omit-
ted many of the topics which were introduced, and the re-
marks which Humboldt made.  I took no extended notes,
and  have not before me any entries which I may or may
not have made in a diary.  One of my  companions may,
perhaps, supply what I have omitted, and correct any error
into which I may have  fallen.  The hasty  sketch  which I
have made  has  been  prepared more because I desired to
show my respect for the memory of Humboldt, and my per-
sonal regard for  the gentlemen who have resolved to honor
it, than because the matter of it  has any special value  or
interest.
  " During  the winter which I spent at  Berlin I  had the
privilege of seeing three  of  the  most distinguished  Ger-
mans of the present  century, — Humboldt, Schelling, and
Carl Ritter.  With  Schelling  I spent an  evening at tea
with his  wife.  Ritter  I saw almost  daily  for  several
months, and with Humboldt I had the interview  which I
have imperfectly sketched.  One who had  seen the gray eyes
of Schelling look out from his rugged and massive face could
never forget them ; so wonderfully glowing with  fire, so ac-
tive and rich in  phantasy, and  so penetrating with insight.
It may be hard to say whether Schelling were more a poet or
a philosopher, but none could  deny that he was  a marvel-
lous man.   In his own  house  he  was a cheerful and  play-
ful host, full of  pleasant talk and  affectionate kindness.
Ritter  was  always  the  same solid, sagacious, true-hearted, 
                          99

and all-remembering, marvellous for the facts which he had
at his command, more marvellous still for his grasp of gen-
eralization, and still more wonderful for the sagacity with
which  he interpreted  the arrangements of the physical
universe by the designs of Providence, as developed  in the
history  of man.  Not  the less great did he seem  to me
when he stood in the town church of a Christmas morning,
his head towering above the multitude, and  his honest face
glowing with  devotion  as  he sang  with  thousands  the
Christmas hymn.
  " Of  the three, Humboldt has been rightly esteemed the
greatest, for the place  which he filled so long, as the ob-
server of the universe, of which man is at once the inter-
preter and  the king.   No man has served so long as he in
the temple of science, as the patient observer, the daring ad-
venturer, the curious  traveller, the  sagacious  interpreter,
and the bold prophet.   None has embraced  so wide  a field
of study and reading,  and has explored it so well.  None
has been so ready to second and  to honor the efforts of his
fellow-students, —- none has lived so long with so few jeal-
ousies and rivalries, — none  has borne himself so cour-
teously  and  humanely  to his fellows.   The place which was
accorded to him while living, he occupied without envy; for
he had  no rival.  The honors  which are  given to his mem-
ory are  rendered  with  the unanimous acclaim  of the vo-
taries of science ; for among all the students of nature in
all generations there has been  but one Humboldt.
                                          "N. PORTER.
  " Yale College, September 13, 1869." 
100
               From Mr. John G. Whittier.
                               "Amesbury, 9th mo. 6th, 1869.
" To R. C. Waterston, Jeffries Wtman, Sf-c, Committee: —
  " Gentlemen, — I fear I shall not be able to be present at
the centennial  celebration  of the birth  of Alexander von
Humboldt, to which you invite me, but I cannot let the oc-
casion pass without expressing my entire sympathy with the
object of the society which  you represent.   There is little
danger of overestimating  the worth of such  a man as
Humboldt,  whose reputation, outgrowing   the  limits of
nationality and breaking down  distinctions  of  race  and
language, has become universally acclimated, the  common
property of Science, Civilization, and Human Progress.
  " What most impresses me, in contemplating his life and
character,  is their symmetry and rounded  completeness.
He was not  exceptionally great in one  direction only ;
wherever you touched him you felt  the firm muscle of his
intellectual strength.  He  saw all sides with cosmical ap-
preciation.  His mind, like  the wheels  of Ezekiel's vision,
was ' full  of eyes round about.'  He had a broad, gener-
ous  nature, and neither Art nor Science nor  Philosophy
could overlay and smother  his humanity.  The profoundest
of all students of the laws of the universe, he was  never
indifferent to the welfare of his fellow-men.   He hated all
slavery, mental, spiritual,  physical. He  was  only  intol-
erant of intolerance.  His  generous and  hearty interest
in the cause of freedom in  the  United States can never be
forgotten by those of us who, in dark and  evil days, were
cheered by his approval and sympathy.
   " Doubtless, it is  not well to set up human  idols.   But 
101
while judging severely of wasted and  dishonored lives, it
surely becomes us to cherish gratefully and reverently those
marked by noble aims and honorable achievement.
  " Honor, then, to the great German, and let a common
admiration  of the flower  and  consummation of Teutonic
genius and  culture serve to unite in closer brotherhood his
countrymen and ours.
             " Very truly your friend,
                                "JOHN G. WHITTIER." 
 
LIST  OF  SUBSCRIBERS
HUMBOLDT  SCHOLARSHIP.
George B. Blake,.........S 500.00
Uriah A. Boyden,........       200.00
William Endicott, Jr.,........200.00
Stephen Salisbury,.........200 00
R. W. Hooper,.........125.00
John B. Alley,.........100-00
William T. Andrews,........100-00
William E. Baker,.........1000°
James M. Barnard,     .    .     .    •     •    •.    •    ■     10°00
E. B. Bigelow,.........100.00
Gardner Brewer,........I00-00
Martin  Brimmer.........100.00
William Claflin,.........1°0-00
John Cummings,.........100-00
Francis Dane,......."•         100-00
George B. Emerson.........100.00
Fogg, Houghton, and Coolidge,......100.00
John Gardner,.........100-00
George W. Gibbs,........1°000
William Greene,.........10°00
L. B. Harrington,........1°0-00
J. C. Hoadley,.........1°0-00
Samuel Hooper,..........1°0-00
F.M.Johnson,.........100-00
Eben D. Jordan,.........1°0-00 
0»0i0>0i0>0»0i0'0'0'0tf5'0»0'0'0
o
S  ^   <5


  •  -^   s
R  <   <
~S  w  c5

1  b
►"5  fZ
o  %
a  Ph
   PS


£PPS
o
  - PS

 f-|   -;


 IP  a

PS  •§


«  "I
  ■   <o
W  PP
CJ
w
£   §
S   o

02  ^



Pi  £
B  2
j*   a  -"  ^2
^  *r
3   a)
H   ««
a>   aT
&  =3  «  Q


O   £   o   §
Q  J
„r  &
~  *
5  «
pq  J
Ph  a   a>   «  J  ^
PS
O  PS  s
o  o  PS
Ph
o  <1   02
X
hioo^fi;i?R<iPi
>  s
02 
105
Joseph Souther,.........8 50.00
G.W.Wales,..........50.00
C. M. Warren,.........50.00
George W. Warren, Charlestown......50.00
Webster & Co.,.........50.00
Henry W, Williams,........50.00
J. B. Bright,.........25.00
William Monroe,   .    .'.......25.00
N. B. Shurtleff,.........25.00
E.J.Young,..........25.00
G. H.  Kuhn,.........20.00
S. Powell...........20.00
John Bacon,.........1000
J. M. Manning,.........10.00
Thomas Gaffield,.........        8.00
N. Paine,.......•     .     .    .      6.00
J. H. Thorndike,.........        6.00
S. R. Urbino,..........6.00
Welch, Bigelow, &  Co.,     .     .    . _   .     .  ■  .    •     150.00
Proprietors of the Boston Daily Advertiser,   ....   86.38
     "      "    Daily Evening Transcript,     .     .    .      54.87
     "      "    Daily Evening Traveller,   .     .     •    .54.75
     "      "    Boston Post,......33.66
     "      "   Commonwealth,......8.75
     "      "   Christian Register,.....        3.30
Total,.......$6,902.71 
106
           The Humboldt Celebration Committee in account
Dr.
By Cash received from the sale of tickets to Professor Agassiz's
      Address,........$2,133.00

By Amount of subscriptions to the Humboldt Scholarship in
      the Museum of Comparative Zoology, as per previous
      list,.    ,.......,     6,902.7*
8 9,035.71 
107
with the Boston Society of Natural History.

By  Cash paid for Advertising : —
    Boston Daily Advertiser,     .     .    .     .   $175.75
    Boston Post,......       132.24
    Daily  Evening Traveller,    ....     113.88
    Boston Evening Transcript,    .     .     .       109.75
    The Commonwealth,.....17.50
    Christian Register,.....       13.20
                                                          $562.32
By Cash paid for rent of Halls,......135.00
   "        "   Harvard Orchestra,    .     .     .    .        270.00
   "        "   Printing: —
                  Welch, Bigelow, & Co., Address, 450.38
                  A. A. Kingman, Circulars, &c,   120.07
                                                ------570.45
By Cash paid for sundries, postage, &c,   ....         34.63
                                                          1,572.40
     Balance in favor of the Humboldt Scholarship,* „    .   7,463.31
                                                        $ 9,035.71
* The proceeds of the sale of the Address will be added to this. 
  At a  meeting of the Council of the Boston Society  of
Natural History, held  November 17, 1869, it was
   Voted, That  the net proceeds of the celebration  of the
Centennial Anniversary of the birth of  Humboldt, together
with the money received from the sale of Professor Agassiz's
Address, previous to January 1, 1870, and the money sub-
scribed  at the  solicitation of the Society's Committee, be
given to  the  Trustees of  the  Museum  of Comparative
Zoology at Harvard College, in trust, for the establishment
of an endowment under the title of the " Humboldt Schol-
arship,"  the income of which is to be solely  applied, under
the direction of the Faculty, toward  the maintenance  of
one or  more young and needy  persons engaged in  study
at said  Museum. 
 

.  *i *
' w
>. X

<  rK


I W 

. ,  >£«
		-	!^\	0 •
	•\*v	... *$^	• #^	
<S.h	k^-i			«=
*S		' 0	*s£${	^*
iCWC
/' />•
 
NLM052293730