ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT 355 



ory, and creates a desire to see for oneself the places of which he writes. 

 Humboldt thinks that landscape painting was not without an influence 

 on early attempts to write out descriptions of nature. Landscape gar- 

 dening made its contributions also, through the rare plants and trees, 

 flowers and fruits, it presented to the eye. But the work of others is 

 only an incentive to Humboldt to see with his own eyes and to set forth 

 in picturesque language the features and striking characteristics of 

 the countries in which he has lived. In doing this he is careful to 

 show the efi;ect of climate and the physical features of a country upon 

 the well-being of men, for even he can not forget that it is for man that 

 this world exists, and that it is to be studied for his sake and not for 

 itself alone. 



Astronomy, as known prior to the second half of the nineteenth 

 century, receives extensive treatment in the " Cosmos." With its his- 

 tory and with the character and acquirements of the men who from 

 the days of Aristarchus of Samos had been scanning the heavens and 

 penetrating into the secrets of the starry worlds, Humboldt had made 

 himself thoroughly familiar. What would he have said had he been as 

 familiar with the principles of astrophysics? More ready than ever, 

 assuredly he would have been, to assert his belief that we are standing 

 on the threshold of a new era in scientific knowledge, and of discover- 

 ies which can not fail greatly to extend the horizon of our vision. 



If he is careful to give credit to the early scientists with their 

 limited acquirements, he is none the less so in his reference to the men 

 of his day. Of Ehrenburg, his companion on his Asiatic journey, and 

 a friend from whom he often received aid, he speaks as " the greatest 

 microscopist of the age," " the highest authority in the study of micro- 

 scopic organisms." Ehrenburg was one of the young men in whom 

 Humboldt took deep interest. He was born at Delitsch in 1795 and 

 died in Berlin, 1876. From 1820 to 1825 he was engaged in explora- 

 tions in Egypt, Abyssinia and Palestine, and from 1838 to 1854 gave 

 his attention almost exclusively to the study of microscopic organisms. 

 For a translation from a Japanese Encyclopedia of an article on vol- 

 canoes Humboldt gives grateful recognition to Stanislaus Julien and 

 prints it in full in Vol. V. of the " Cosmos." He refers to his brother 

 William, whose death he mourned as long as he lived, as half his life, as 

 an authority, as his treatise on the Kawi language shows, in the science 

 of the comparative study of languages. Professor Waagen, of whose 

 information he often makes use, the director of the gallery of painting 

 in Berlin, is declared to be " a profound and cautious connoiseur of art." 

 Generous praise is given Ottfried Miiller, author of the " Archeologie 

 der Kunst." Of Goethe and Schiller he speaks in terms which not only 

 indicate his high esteem for their abilities, but the intimacy of his re- 

 lations with them. Ludwig Tieck is an honored correspondent who has 

 answered his questions concerning Calderon's and Shakespeare's de- 



