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INTRODUCTION. 



9 



A Biography of Alexander Yon Humboldt, which shall 

 contam a full and conscientious account of his life and 

 labors, written in a style sufficiently clear and untechnical 

 to meet the popular tastes, has long been a necessity in our 

 literature. Those biographies which are already m exist- 

 ence do not possess this character : they are rather chroni- 

 cles of his achievements in the various departments of 

 natural science, than stories of a life almost unexampled 

 for its wealth of experience, its labors, and successes. The 

 " Lives of the Brothers Humboldt," by Klencke, which 

 has been translated into English, is very fragmentary in 

 this respect ; it passes over unnoticed, many episodes in the 

 life of Alexander Yon Humboldt, which are of great interest 

 to the general reader. In fact, it has only been in the 

 closing years of his life, that the excellences of his charac- 

 ter, as a man, apart from his distinction as a savant, have 

 received full and general acknowledgment. 



No task could have been pleasanter to me than that of 

 attempting to bring home to the familiar acquaintance of 



