Meliora.

ART. I-1. Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America in 1799-1804. By Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland. Translated by Thomasina Ross. 3 vols. London: Bohn. 1852.

2. Cosmos: or, Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe. 5 vols. By A. von Humboldt. Bohn. 1845-1858.

3. Views of Nature; or, Contemplations of the Sublime Phenomena of Creation. By the same. Bohn.

4. Alexander von Humboldt: a Biographical Monument. By Professor Klencke. Translated from the German by Juliette Bauer. London: Ingram, Cooke, and Co.

1852.

5. The Life, Travels, and Books of Alexander von Humboldt. With an Introduction by Bayard Taylor. New York: Rudd and Carleton. London: Low and Son. 1859.

HO is the Baron von Humboldt, that you present him to

'WHO

me with so much empressement? I have never heard of him,' said the young Emperor of Austria a few years ago to the King of Prussia. 'Not heard of him!' exclaimed the king, why he is the greatest man since the Deluge! We do not suppose any of our readers are so ignorant as the Kaiser Francis Joseph, when the name of Alexander von Humboldt is mentioned, -a name which, for the most part of the present century, has possessed a cosmopolitan fame. Nevertheless, as he has lately passed away from the living, and well-nigh half a century after his early honours were won, many may wish to possess a succinct account of his life, travels, and contributions to science, in order to estimate his character and worth. Hero-worship has in him one of its noblest objects. Devoted to science from his earliest years, cultivating it in almost all its departments, enriching it in an unusual degree by his personal discoveries, classifying it beyond any previous attempts, and popularizing it by a series of splendid writings, he occupies one of the most conspicuous niches in the Temple of Fame. If he be not the greatest man since the Deluge-a panegyric of royal affection which even the votaries of science will fail to echo-he has more than any other made the Cosmos' which we inhabit the pedestal of his memory. His mind,' it has been said, 'was so admirably balanced, his developVol. 3.-No. 12.

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ment was so various, and yet so complete in every department of science, that his true greatness is not so apparent as in the case of those who have risen to eminence by devoting themselves to some special study. Perfect symmetry never produces the effect of vastness. It is only by studying the details that we comprehend the character of the whole. Humboldt, however, may be termed the father of physical geography, and the suggester, if not the discoverer, of that system of the distribution of plants and animals which opens to our view another field of that Divine Order manifested in the visible world. He strove to grasp those secrets which, perhaps, no single mind will ever be able to comprehendthe aggregate of the laws which underlie the mysteries of Creation, Growth, and Decay; and though he fell short of the sublime aim, he was at least able to say, like Kepler when he discovered the mathematical harmonies of the solar system: O Almighty God, I think Thy thoughts after Thee!'

ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT was the second son of a major in the Prussian army, and was born on the 14th of September, 1769, the annus mirabilis for eminent men. In that year a constellation of celebrities first saw the light: CUVIER, the most eminent naturalist, the first zoologist of modern times, and who left to France the finest osteological collection in the world; NAPOLEON and WELLINGTON, the great generals of warfare, on whose movements the destinies of empires depended; CHATEAUBRIAND, the soldier, diplomatist, and littérateur, whose chequered fortunes and brilliant writings achieved his fame; MEHEMET ALI, the Napoleon of the East; Marshal SOULT, warrior and statesman, whom even his enemies respected; TURNER, the most distinguished English landscape-painter; Sir MARTIN ARCHER SHEE, whose brush has preserved to us the faces of so many illustrious men ; Sir JOHN MALCOLM, not the least of Englishmen in India; and others of less magnitude. Humboldt's place of birth was Berlin, though his childhood was chiefly spent in the old castle of Tegel, about three leagues to the north-west of the capital, where his father resided. He had a brother William, two years his senior, in whose fellowship he pursued his youthful studies, and who also rose to a high place among philosophers. Nature is prodigal of beauty around the castle, and art had considerably improved the landscape; so that the first page of the book sowed the desire in Alexander's mind to see the whole volume. Education had, however, first to come. At that period new methods of instruction were being developed. The study of natural science was claiming a place among the classics and the metaphysics of the schools. Major von Humboldt embraced the idea in the education of his sons, and secured for their tutor Joachim Heinrich Campe, chaplain to the Prince of Prussia's regiment at Potsdam, one who was

abler

His Education.

275 abler to teach boys than men. Possessed of a ripe and varied scholarship, which won for him after Klopstock the rank of the second philologist and critic of German style, he added to it a love of nature which made him edit Robinson Crusoe,' and write the Discovery of America.' Though he only remained at Tegel for a year, and left when Alexander was but seven years old, his influence over the youth was permanent, and his friendship a lasting joy. He was succeeded by Christian Kunth, who bestowed special care upon his pupils, studied their minds, and directed their education in a way most likely to meet their tastes and capabilities. He led the eldest into philology and the other into natural science, while he mingled the studies of both in so skilful a manner as to give each an interest in his brother's favourite pursuits. He cultivated body as well as mind, and often gave his boys a holiday excursion with himself, now on the bosom of the Lake Tegel, now in the woods and fields, or to the fortress of Spandau, in the vicinity, or to the city of Berlin. He thus secured much affection while he did great good. His pupils never forgot him in their future career. To him they trusted their property when they were far from home on voyages of discovery in the New World, or in antiquarian researches among the ruins of classical glory in the Old.

The Major von Humboldt died in 1779, but Kunth continued with the boys, and accompanied them to Berlin, where he superintended their studies. In 1776 they went to Frankfort-onthe-Oder, and in 1788 entered the University of Göttingen. There were in that famous seat of learning some eminent professors, whose influence contributed much to mould such minds as Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt. EICHHORN occupied the chair of Theology, HEYNE that of Archæology, and BLUMENBACH was the professor of Physiology and Comparative Anatomy. Under such teachers the youths made rapid progress; but Alexander derived the greatest stimulus from the son-in-law of Heyne, George Forster. He had sailed round the world with Captain Cook, and had written a history of the voyage in which he was naturalist. He began a new era of scientific voyages, the aim of which was to arrive at a knowledge of the comparative history and geography of different countries." To him Humboldt gave this testimony more than fifty years after his death: George Forster was the first to depict in pleasing colours the changing stages of vegetation, the relations of climate and of articles of food in their influence on the civilization of mankind, according to differences of original descent and habitation. All that can give truth, individuality, and distinctiveness to the delineation of exotic nature is united in his works.'

The stories of adventure and of scientific pursuit told by

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Forster

Forster aroused anew in Alexander von Humboldt the desire to travel to see the variety of nature in the New World, and he set himself diligently to prepare for the enterprise which his imagination had sketched. While not attending lectures or conversing with Forster, he was in the university museum pursuing researches and making experiments- to-day in the laboratory among its vials and crucibles, testing acids and gases, or in the botanic gardens, theorizing over tropical plants and trees; to-morrow in the anatomical room, surrounded by casts and models; and many a long night in the observatory unwinding the dances of the stars.'

University life ending in the autumn of 1789, he commenced the study of a science then quite new, which promised to open up many a secret of the past creation-geology. The writings of Werner, the foremost man of mineralogical science of his time, and who raised the art of mining into the science of geology, were cagerly perused by Humboldt. His geology was crude, and his theories empirical. He traced all rocks to water, and reasoned for all the world from a few facts seen in his own neighbourhood. But he was the pioneer of the science which is now so famous. Werner being in Freiburg as director of the mining academy, and where he had a cabinet of 100,000 mineral specimens, Humboldt was induced to go there to study the metallurgical sciences. He afterwards undertook a journey with the same object, in company with Forster. Their route lay along the Rhine, through Holland to England. So careful had been the traveller's eye that he was able to publish in the course of the same year Mineralogical Observations on some Basaltic Formations of the Rhine,' designed to prove the neptunic origin of the mineral.

Until 1795 he filled the office of general director of mines in the principalities of Bayreuth and Anspach, and added greatly to his scientific acquirements. But desire for travel and for extended research led him to resign. Various circumstances conspired to frustrate his intended journeys; but he was not easily to surrender his hope. Availing himself of every new scientific discovery, providing all useful instruments, and forming the acquaintance of like-minded friends, he sold his estate and got ready to leave. The European war well-nigh defeated his scientific tours. He wished to go to Italy, but it was then the theatre of Bonaparte's victories. He determined to go to Upper Egypt, but political events forced him to abstain. The battle of Aboukir lost to the French the free communication to Alexandria. A way to Africa was promised by means of a Swedish frigate, and Humboldt, along with M. Bonpland, a most distinguished young student of science, went to Marseilles to await the arrival of the vessel. Two weary months passed away, when the sad intelligence of the frigate's injury in a storm led him to abandon his hope. Besides,

warlike

The Peak of Teneriffe.

277

warlike disturbances had commenced in Tunis in that epoch of national commotion. After wintering in Spain, and making many scientific observations, Humboldt was presented at court, and received permission to go to the tropical regions of the New World. The long-formed design was practicable at last. It was not without difficulty, however, that our hero and his companion Bonpland could get on board the corvette Pizarro,' which was to convey them. The English fleet were blockading the port of Corunna. At length they got their instruments on board, weighed anchor, eluded the cruisers, and were in the

open sea.

To a man so full of science as Humboldt, every new hour even on the wide sea brought new scenes and experiences. The voyage was rendered interesting by scientific observation. He studied the electric sparks emitted from the meduse. The rain of shooting stars which startled his view was anxiously watched and commented upon, and so were the shoals of flying fish. Sea-winds were studied and measured, and sea-weeds suggested many inquiries. The temperature of the atmosphere, its difference on sea and land, and the causes of the difference, were thoughtfully and accurately discussed. The blueness of the sky led him to philosophize upon the changes on the ocean-sky, and he became the first naturalist who made scientific observations on the colours of the sky in equinoctial seas. He watched the rising and setting sun, and used the instrument invented by Saussure for measuring the blueness of the sky and the colour of the sea. The moisture of the atmosphere, the electricity and attraction of the magnetic needle, were also chronicled by the indefatigable student of nature.

On this voyage they sailed by Teneriffe, and the captain of the 'Pizarro' had orders to stay as long as the philosophers wished. Humboldt was particularly desirous to ascend the Peak, and to make observations on its formation which might be useful to the science of his affection. Its peculiar formation, its extinct volcanoes he hoped would answer questions which had long puzzled his mind; and he was not disappointed.

The ascent was a hard toil in the brief period of their sojourn. Nevertheless, Humboldt and Bonpland reached the edge of the crater, and, besides making researches on the ashes of an ancient fire beneath their feet, enjoyed the magnificent prospect which was now spread out before their eye. They were more than 12,000 feet above the level of the sea. Between them and the shore were five distinct zones of vegetation. The region of grasses was nearest to the sugar-loaf; but there were only a few lichens to cover the scorious and lustrous lava, yet a violet rose on the slope, 8,500 feet from the sea. The next zone had tufts of retama-a plant loaded with flowers which adorned, the valleys hollowed out by the torrents, and diffused their fragrance on the mountain air.