352 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



tific world. As we think of this aged but vigorous man sitting down in 

 his study in Potsdam with the learning of the world at his command, 

 with every literary or scientific man in Germany or France or Italy or 

 Eussia ready to furnish any information he might ask, we can not 

 help sympathizing with him in his conviction that he was indeed the 

 best man living to write a book like " Cosmos." The reports published 

 in Paris had, in his eyes, only prepared the way for the generalizations 

 he would now make. Yet to the ordinary man they seemed complete in 

 themselves. They covered a vast field of exploration and study. They 

 had engaged the labors of some of the most eminent men in their 

 departments for twenty years. These reports, arranged in six sections 

 filled thirty volumes. These sections are as follows, viz., 



I. Historical, Geographical and Physical Atlas; Views of the Cor- 

 dilleras and of the Native Peoples of America. 



II. Observations on Comparative Anatomy and Zoology. 



III. Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain. 



IV. Astronomical Observations; Trigometrical and Barometrical 

 Measurements. 



V. Essay on Geological Basiography. 



VI. Equatorial Plants. 



In the International Encyclopedia it is asserted that Vols. I.-XIV. 

 were written by C. S. Kunth, the botanist. They treat of botany almost 

 exclusively. On the South American journey hundreds of new species 

 of plants were discovered and described, and specimens of them sent 

 to Paris. The general title of this extensive work was " Voyage aux 

 regions equinoxiales du Noveau Continent fait en 1799 . . . 1804 par 

 Alexandre de Humboldt et Aime Bonpland." Volumes XV. and XVI. 

 are an " atlas pittoresque." 



With the exception of Volume XX. which is devoted to plants. 

 Volumes XVII.-XXII. are occupied with physical geography, geognosy 

 and astronomy. Volumes XXIII. and XXIV. are given to zoology, 

 and Volumes XXV. and XXVI. to a description of the countries of 

 Spanish America. Volumes XXVII. to XXX. contain Humboldt's own 

 narrative and notes upon the countries visited. Unfortunately this 

 narrative was never quite finished. The original work contained the 

 " Essai politique sur royaume de la Noveau Espagnol," the " Essai 

 politique sur I'isle de Cuba," and " Vues des Cordilleries." Special 

 sections of this immense work appeared from time to time under indi- 

 vidual titles, and as composed by specialists of distinction. Humboldt's 

 " Ansichten der Natur " was very popular in Germany, as was an edi- 

 tion of his works published in 1864-1866. In Bruhn's " Life of Hum- 

 boldt," it is shown that he made special contributions to petrography, 

 vulcanology and seismology, that he pointed out the effect upon civiliza- 

 tion of the cultivation of the soil in different climates, and drew atten- 

 tion to the languages, architecture and customs of the ancient peoples 



