232^ SIR RODERICK I. MURCHISON'S ADDRESS. [May 23, 1859. 



volcanic rocks tlian Humboldt, and his judgment on this point 

 must be viewed with profound respect. 



During my last conversation with him at Potsdam, in Sep- 

 tember, 1857, I grieved to see that his physical powers had 

 become much feebler in the lapse of a year, and that he was under 

 the necessity of leaning on his servant as he walked. And when to 

 my sorrow I also perceived that the health of the Sovereign of all 

 others who so heartily cherished the cultivators of science and 

 letters was failing, and that this change was making a deep impres- 

 sion on Humboldt, I feared that I might never more converse with 

 the illustrious man. But whilst the frame was gradually bending 

 and giving way, the bright intellect continued clear to the last ; and 

 one of his letters, which was written to me only a few weeks ago, 

 exhibited the same suggestive mind and active interest in obtaining 

 knowledge as in the best days of his bodily vigour. 



One of these precious letters received last summer displays that love 

 of youthful persons by which Humboldt was always characterized. 

 The joy which the veteran philosopher experienced on possessing 

 " cette patience de vivre " (as he termed his long life) which had 

 enabled him to witness the happy union of the eldest daughter of 

 our beloved Sovereign with the heir to the crown of Prussia, and 

 to join in welcoming the accomplished Princess Royal to Prussia, 

 is expressed in terms which showed how justly he estimated the 

 influence which her graceful and captivating manners, and her 

 good sense and right feeling, must produce upon the nation of her 

 adoption. Even in the very last letter which I received from my 

 illustrious friend, dated the 15th of last March, though it chiefly 

 related to the means of facilitating the investigations of a Prussian 

 traveller, from Tunis southwards, into the wilds of North Africa, 

 there is a strong and warm expression of the gratification which he 

 had felt in having lived to be present at the baptism of the first child 

 of the Prince and Princess Frederick William, and of his conviction 

 that his happiness was shared by all good Prussians. 



This was, I apprehend, the last public ceremony ^t which Hum- 

 boldt assisted. The lines with which he concludes his letter are 

 penned with a tremulous hand, and in reply to my inquiry after his 

 health he writes : " Mes forces musculaires reviennent tr^s lente- 

 *' ment, et je souff're sous le poids d'une correspondance de 1800 

 " a 2000 lettres et paquets par an. Une sorte de cel^brite qui 

 " se repand avec I'age, et s'augmente a mesure que Ton devient 

 V imbecile." 



