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378 OFFER OP THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT 



tally-gifted man owes to his people of bestowing on them, 

 and instructing tliem with the rich treasury of his know- 

 ledge and experience, thereby raising them nearer him- 

 self." 



Humboldt finished his course of sixty-one lectures on 

 the 26th of April, 1828. Their reputation was now so 

 universal that he was urged to print them, for the sake 

 of those who had not been able to hear him. He con- 

 sented to do so, and began to write them off from 

 memory, for he had spoken without notes, but his atten- 

 tion was distracted by other things. He had been applied 

 to some months before, while the course was in progress, 

 by Count Cancrin, the Eussian Minister of Finance, who 

 requested him to give his opinion as to the eligibility of a 

 coinage of platina from the Ural, and its relative value 

 to gold and silver. The Spanish Government had also 

 applied to him on the same subject, and a proposal had 

 been made by some private individuals to the Congress 

 of Vienna, to introduce the new metal into circulation, 

 supported and recognised by government authority. 

 Humboldt doubted the eligibility of the scheme, and 

 said so frankly, without forfeiting the good opinion of 

 the Eussian Government. Happening in the course of 

 his correspondence to express a wish to visit the Ural, 

 and to compare its mountains with those of the New 

 World, the Emperor of Eussia invited him to undertake 

 an expedition thither, and offered to defray the whole ex- 

 pense. More than this, he was instructed to consider 

 the advantages which the Imperial Government might 

 draw from his researches into the mining capabilities of 

 the countrj^, as of secondary importance, and to devote 

 himself entirely to what he thought the advancement of 



