Reminiscences of Malte-Brun. 351 
were, it is true, curious to learn what German philosophy actu- 
ally meant. I soon saw, however, that my prelections were 
quite fruitless, and-I resolved to discontinue them. D’Au- 
buisson did not attend them, and Mohs also, who possessed 
an acute logical mind, and to whom a clear perception of a 
subject was every thing, took no part in our meetings. But 
with him I was intimately connected in the field of minera- 
logy. In geognostical investigations he was my guide and 
conductor, and I made many excursions in his society. He 
followed entirely the directions given by Werner, and mas- 
tered them entirely, and with greater precision than I did. 
I].—Matre-Bron. 
Malte-Brun was a student in Copenhagen about the same 
time as myself; we saw each other often, and friendly rela- 
tions existed between us; a confidential intercourse could not 
however subsist, as such was only possible with me when my 
internal mental tendencies met with some sympathy and en- 
couragement. Malte-Brun had almost a boyish appearance, 
and although, as he himself said, he easily excited confidence, 
yet one easily discovered something changeable and undecided 
in his character. He was strong and fair ; his person was 
somewhat effeminate, and his gait, like his demeanour, some- 
what unsteady ; but, at the same time, he was extremely ac- 
tive and restless, without being violent. He had the reputa- 
tion of possessing good school acquirements, and the desire of 
making himself speedily, and in the easiest way, remarkable, 
was his leading propensity. Thus, soon after his examinations, 
he became a political writer, and attained as such a certain 
reputation. He wrote pamphlet after pamphlet, and, as little 
attention was paid to the first, he became so much the bolder. 
On one occasion, when his violence was loudly complained of, 
he disappeared, and concealed himself under the protection of 
friends. I generally knew his abode, and it of course hap- 
pened that the pursuits of the police excited greater sympathy 
than his attacks had ever obtained for him. I scarcely read the 
latter ; but the knowledge of his place of concealment, and my 
visits to him there, possessed for me a hazardous interest, as 
every political secret has for the young. At last his position 
