May 23, 1859.] OBITUARY.— HUMBOLDT. 233 



.' Valuing the knowledge I obtained personally from him, and 

 the hearty kindness and zeal with which he uniformly aided me, 

 I would that it were in my power to render ampler justice to so 

 great and so good a man. But many of the works of Humboldt, 

 particularly his records of the physical phenomena of the universe, 

 lie beyond the critical scope of a geologist like myself. These 

 works will doubtless be crowned with appropriate laurels by those 

 who can duly scan their lofty merits. My humble offering comes 

 from one who, profoundly admiring the works of this great philo- 

 sopher which lie in his own line of research, will ever be proud of 

 the recollection that he was encouraged in his career by the truly 

 illustrious Humboldt.* 



All praise to the gallant and intellectual nation to which he 

 belonged for the respect and love which they bore to him through 

 life, and for the profound sorrow which they testified on his decease. 

 Never probably was the body of any man followed to the grave with 

 deeper and more touching respect, nor by a larger number of people 

 of all classes, from the Regent and Prince Royal of Prussia and the 

 other members of the Royal Family to the humblest citizen. 

 And when the account of his last moments was conveyed to the 

 Monarch whom he had so long and so faithfully served, I feel con- 

 vinced that the oppression of mind caused by a severe malady would 

 be dissipated, and that all the affectionate recollections of the bene- 

 volent Sovereign were revived, as he wailed over the death of his 

 bosom friend. 



When presiding over this Society in the year 1853, I opened my 

 Address by lamenting the death of the great Prussian palaeontologist 

 and geographical geologist, Leopold von Buch, and said that " in 

 losing him we were left almost alone with Humboldt as the last of 

 that race of philosophical generalizers who are capable of placing 

 before us in one work all the natural features and contents of a vast 

 region." 



It was on that occasion that the deepest feelings of Humboldt were 

 poured forth in a letter in which he announced to me his irrepar- 

 able loss. " Suis je destine," he wrote, '*moi vieillard de 83 ans, 



* Among the numerous portraits of Humboldt, there is no one which comes so home to 

 the geographer as that little sketch of the veteran who, seated in his cabinet, is surrounded 

 by his books, packets of correspondence, and the map of the world which he had so illus- 

 trated. In the corner of this coloured lithograph is his own affirmation that this is " Ein 

 treues Bild meines Arbeits Zimmers als ich den zweiten Theil der Kosmos schrieb." A 

 very striking little photograph of him, the last likeness which was taken, has been sent me 

 by the brothers Schlagintweit, who were with him just before his last illness, and to whom 

 he granted this favour. 



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