294 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



penetrate. His Cosmos, that marvelous monument of meditation and 

 research, is a new book of Genesis in which the universe mirrors itself 

 in all its vastness and minuteness ' from the nebulae of the stars ' — 

 to use his own words — ' to the geographical distribution of mosses on 

 granite rocks.' 



By his wonderful talent of research, by his almost superhuman 

 power to divine eternal laws, this great interpreter of science taught 

 mankind how to read in the book of nature, how to understand its 

 great mysteries. The series of sciences, originated by this mighty 

 genius is, as well as the other manifold branches of science developed 

 by him, sufficiently known to all of you. 



, In all his investigations his ultimate aim was to bring theory 

 into practical relation with life. Thus he not only elevated the stand- 

 ard of culture of the whole world by many steps, but he also became 

 from a practical point of view the benefactor of mankind in many 

 branches of common life, as trade, commerce, navigation. 



He taught us how to conceive the beauty and sublimity of nature 

 in its every form and motion. His studies are not a matter merely of 

 memory and of dry meditation, to him nature was rather the inex- 

 haustible source of pure and deep enjoyment, by which the heart is 

 purified and ennobled and men are brought nearer to perfection. 



It is not necessary to give you a more detailed picture of his life. 

 All this is so well known and so dear to the whole learned world of 

 America; for never has a foreign scholar been more honored in this 

 country than Alexander von Humboldt. 



We need only recall the celebrations which took place in his memory, 

 both at the time of his death and on occasion of the centennial an- 

 niversary of his birth, when throughout all America solemn offerings 

 of gratitude and devotion went out to the shadow of the great dead. 



Humboldt devoted five years of his life to scientific investigations 

 in South and Central America, in Mexico and in Cuba. He ascer- 

 tained the course of the greatest rivers, he climbed the summits of 

 mountains, where never man's foot had trod before, he studied vege- 

 tation, astronomical and meteorological phenomena, gathered speci- 

 mens of all natural products and a great deal of historical information 

 about the early population of these parts of the New World. It was he 

 that drew the first accurate maps of these regions. With almost pro- 

 phetic forecast of the needs of generations to come, he examined the 

 Isthmus of Panama and considered carefully the possibilities of estab- 

 lishing an interoceanic waterway. 



It is well known how great an interest Alexander von Humboldt 

 has taken in the United States. Indeed, so strongly was he attracted 

 by the problems of the new-born republic that, putting aside even his 

 habitual scientific occupations, he devoted himself entirely for some 



