250 REPORT ON THE TRANSACTIONS OF, ETC. 



boldt was the necessity of embracing in his researches the whole of 

 nature — the Cosmos. Thus it was, above all, the study of our globe 

 itself which was the object of his constant predilection, and for which 

 he went to gather materials in every quarter of the world. Did uni- 

 versality then impair in him to a certain extent originality, and were 

 his discoveries less brilliant on that account than those of his 

 illustrious cotemporaries ? It is possible: one cannot be at the same 

 time a Humboldt and a Volta. But his part has been sufficiently 

 honorable and his influence sufficiently great in the world of science 

 to leave nothing wanting to the lustre which attends his name. He 

 died the 6th of May last, at the age of 90, in the plenitude of his facul- 

 ties, full of years and of glory. I cannot better characterize him 

 than by recalling here the judgment which he passed upon himself : 

 " I am not a savant," he said to me at Berlin, eighteen months ago. 

 "The world, then," I promptly replied, "is much deceived in regard 

 to you." " No, I am not a savant, such as they represent me," he 

 rejoined earnestly; "my principal discoveries have been the discovery 

 of learned men, and my principal merit is to have caused science to 

 be loved." Perhaps he had reason to regard this kind of glory as his 

 first title to the admiration and the gratitude of posterity. There will 

 always be savants who will cause science to advance, but the Hum- 

 boldts and De Candolles who cause it to advance at the same time 

 that they cause it to be loved, who encourage labor in others and 

 themselves set the example — these are types as rare as they are 

 precious, and when they disappear it is not science alone, but still 

 more those who cultivate it, who ought to mourn for them. 



