348 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



and the person to whom, as he often declares, he owed his first impulse 

 to the life he led later, he had previously visited England, Holland and 

 Belgium. It was this George Foster, the companion of Captain Cook 

 on his second voyage round the world, who suggested to Humboldt his 

 travels and researches in the tropical world. 



As an author young Humboldt had already given proof of far more 

 than ordinary ability. At Gottingen he had written a book on the 

 " Basalts of the Ehine," and in 1792 published a striking essay on the 

 " Fossil Flora of Freiburg." While inspector of mines, employing the 

 discoveries of Galvani, he published two volumes, still frequently con- 

 sulted, bearing the title, " Tiber die gereiste Muskel- und Nervenfassen 

 nebst Vermuthengen liber den ehemischen Process des Lebens in der 

 Thier- und Pflanzenwelt," Berlin, 1797. 



The death of his mother, to whom he was warmly attached, and the 

 increase of his income made it possible for him to carry out long- 

 cherished plans for travel and the study of nature in the tropics. 

 Eesigning his position as inspector of mines, he visited Vienna and 

 Paris for special studies and for the purchase of instruments and in- 

 struction in their use. In Paris he met Gay-Lussac, Laplace, Arago, 

 Berthollet, and Aime Bonpland, a young botanist who became his com- 

 panion in travel and research, and in whom he found the friend and 

 assistant whom he needed. Failing in their attempts to make satis- 

 factory arrangements for explorations in Egypt and Central Africa, the 

 two men finally accepted the protection and assistance of Spain, and 

 decided to devote themselves to the study of the physiognomy, the plant 

 and animal life of the tropical regions of South and Central America 

 and Mexico. At the head of an expedition which in equipment and reti- 

 nue had hardly been equalled since the days of Alexander the Great the 

 two men sailed from La Coruna in northwestern Spain, June 5, 1799, 

 and landed at Bordeaux, France, on their return home, June 3, 1804. 

 During their absence they had explored Venezuela, ascended the Orinoco 

 1,800 miles and learned that its head waters are connected with those 

 of the Amazon, had sailed up the Magdalena, settled for a time at Quito 

 and made themselves thoroughly acquainted with the west coast of 

 South America almost to the southern limits of Peru. They had 

 ascended Chimborazo to the height of 19,000 feet, had studied carefully 

 the crater of Cotopaxi and learned all that could be learned at the time 

 concerning the physiognomy of the country. They had studied the 

 forms of life, animal and floral, observed the variations of temperature 

 at different levels above the sea, the arrangements of the mountain 

 chains, the situation and character of volcanoes, active and extinct. 

 They had studied under favorable conditions the celestial phenomena 

 peculiar to the tropical regions and given special attention to the 

 zodiacal light. From the people and their own observation, they had 

 learned all they could learn concerning the country, its civilization and 



