690 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



earth's surface and the life that is developed on it. Modern lan- 

 guages and the arts and sciences were the more prominent subjects 

 of study at the Schnepfenthal school, the classics receiving a secondary 

 consideration. 



While here, and with no definite prospects for his future after he 

 should leave the school, Herr Hallneg, a partner in the wealthy house 

 of Bethraann at Frankfort-on-the-Main, visited the institution at 

 Schnepfenthal, and was so prepossessed by Ritter's appearance that 

 he offered to support him while he continued his studies, on condition 

 that he should engage afterward to teach in his house. So Ritter in 

 his seventeenth year went to the University of Halle, and was matric- 

 ulated as a student in branches relating to finance, in connection with 

 which he gave especial attention to statistics. He made many friends 

 while at the university, and at the age of nineteen went into Hallneg's 

 house as a private tutor, and there formed a friendship with the 

 youngest son of the rich merchant, his pupil, which endured through 

 his whole life. Several distinguished men were accustomed to visit 

 this house, and intercourse with them had such a stimulating effect 

 upon the young teacher that his abode there may be regarded as 

 having been in a certain sense a prolongation of his university career. 

 Chief among these men was the naturalist Sommering, whose geni- 

 ality and liberal knowledge gave him great influence. Another was 

 Alexander von Humboldt, who made a deep impression on Ritter's 

 mind. Full of enthusiasm, Ritter wrote to his old teacher Gutsmuth : 

 " It has now been eight days that I have enjoyed the happiness of 

 being associated with Alexander von Humboldt. He is one of the 

 most interesting men I have ever seen. It was my privilege to be- 

 come acquainted with him on the first evening of his visit, and I have 

 since enjoyed most precious hours in his society." At the same time 

 Ritter was devoting himself to a diversity of studies, particularly to 

 the pursuit of those branches, such as the classical languages and lite- 

 ratures, to which he had previously given a lesser share of attention. 

 For this purpose he attended the gymnasium at Frankfort, and sat on 

 the school-bench with his pupil Hallneg. His inclination toward geo- 

 graphical and historical studies did not, however, cease to preponder- 

 ate ; and, in order to make himself fully at home in these subjects, he 

 not only read the most important works upon them with great care, 

 but also made frequent excursions in the neighborhood of Frankfort 

 for purposes of independent observation. A happy skill in drawing 

 the objects of interest in the landscape was of great help to him. 



His first geographical work, consisting of six maps of Europe, was 

 published in 1806 ; it was followed in 1811 by a Geography of Europe 

 in two volumes. These two works, his first efforts on a field in which 

 he was afterward to be a master, already gave indications of that com- 

 prehensive grasp of geographical principles for which he afterward 

 became distinguished. 



