THE PRUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 181 



mond; Ivosch and Baum, the botanists; Buschmann, the linguist; 

 Finder, the numismatist; Riedel, the historian; Curtius, linguist as 

 well as historian; Kiepert, the geographer; llaupt, the philologist ; 

 Beyrich, the geologist; and Ewald, the paleontologist, — entered the 

 academy and by the investigations in their special departments of study 

 and their publications did their full share in increasing its fame 

 throughout the world. When DuBois Eeymond was a candidate for 

 the academy, Alexander von Humboldt and Johannes Miiller, his 

 backers, described him as 'a fine experimenter in physics, physiology 

 and chemistry' and added that 'he had been carefully trained in mathe- 

 matics and the classics.' Eeymond became one of the best known 

 members of the academy, was in it forty-five years and lived for it as 

 no one had done since the days of Merian. In 1850-51, Barthomess 

 of Frankfurt, an honorary member of the academy, published what 

 Harnack describes as a philosophical history of the academy. It covers 

 the period from Leibniz to Schelling, and within its limits, Trendelen- 

 berg says it is unsurpassed. Notwithstanding the excitements in 

 Berlin, as well as elsewhere on the continent of Europe, of the year 

 1848, and the anxiety caused by the failing health and the mental 

 weakness of the king nearly a decade later, the members of the academy 

 quietly performed their tasks and through its publications added some- 

 thing every year to the aggregate of human knowledge. Xot a few 

 of its members were recognized throughout the world as leaders in the 

 departments of study to which they had devoted their energies. Alex- 

 ander von Humboldt, who died in 1859, having been connected with the 

 academy, either as honorary or as active member, since the beginning 

 of the century, was present at one of its regular sessions in March as 

 eager for knowledge as in his youthful days. With his death and that 

 of Carl Fitter and William Grimm a great era in the history of the 

 academy closed. But before entering upon that chapter of its history 

 which unites it with the present, we may call attention to the fact 

 that in 1845 Prescott, Sparks and Bancroft, American historians, were 

 made corresponding members, that in 1852 Dr. Edward Robinson, the 

 distinguished biblical scholar, was added to the list, and that in 1855 

 the same honor was accorded to Professor James D. Dana, the geologist, 

 and Professor Asa Gray, the botanist. 



