May 23, 1859.] OBITUARY.— HUMBOLDT. 229 



three brothers who has fallen a victim to his zeal, was assassinated 

 before the walls of Kashgar ; all his valuable observations and papers 

 being lost with the death of the courageous traveller. 



Keenly intent upon every exploration of the interior of Africa, 

 Humboldt was naturally proud that his countrymen Overweg and 

 Barth should successively have distinguished themselves in the 

 British expedition which commenced under the guidance of Eichard- 

 son, and it was mainly through his exertions that the accomplished 

 young astronomer Vogel was added to the list of those who were 

 endeavouring to define the geography and condition of inner Africa. 



That Humboldt lived unto his ninetieth year is chronicled ; but 

 knowing well his habits, I may be permitted to say that in reality he 

 lived upwards of a century : for, whilst the average daily amount of 

 sleep of man is seven or eight hours, the rest he took from his 

 earliest youth never exceeded four hours ; all his waking moments 

 being so vigorously and profitably employed as virtually to constitute 

 a century of highly-strung mental existence. 



Though he was a good listener, and a clear questioner whenever 

 he sought to obtain knowledge from others (which, by the bye, he 

 never forgot), it may be also said of him that in his long career he 

 talked more than any one of his contemporaries with whom I 

 have been acquainted. His correspondence was particularly ex- 

 tensive, and the piles of letters which he had to answer almost 

 overpowered him. And yet a few months before his death he not 

 only took the trouble of replying to many of his old scientific cor- 

 respondents, but I have before me the copy of a long and kind letter 

 which he wrote last year to our worthy associate Mr. John Brown, 

 with whom he was personally unacquainted, thanking him for the 

 present of his volume on ' Arctic Discoveries.' 



Nor is it to be forgotten that he took particular delight in con- 

 versing with women, and that he was a great favourite with them ; 

 his soft voice and persuasive diction, in which he conveyed instruc- 

 tion without hard words or ostentation, being peculiarly grateful 

 to the gentler sex, to say nothing of that piquant and good- 

 humoured irony in which lie frequently indulged. 



But it was not merely by his kind courtesy and correspondence 

 that Humboldt won the affectionate attachment of mankind. He 

 was invariably the ardent and disinterested promoter of merit 

 and desert, under whatever form they were presented to him. 

 Every young man struggling with difficulties, who had shown 

 signs of energy in the cause of science, was sure to find in him a zeal- 



