432 HUMBOLDT'S INTEREST IN THE ERIE CANAL. 



than his own opinion or bias ; and my suggestion that 

 so comprehensive a University as that of Berlin, our com- 

 mon native city, ought to be honoured with having the 

 first chair of poenology, for which it was high time to 

 carve out a distinct branch, treating of the convict in all 

 his phases after the act of conviction, was seized upon at 

 once by his liberal mind. He soon carried the Minister 

 of Justice along with him, and the offer to which I have 

 alluded was the consequence. 



" On the other hand, a friend, whose name is perhaps 

 more interwoven with the history of our canal than that 

 of any other citizen, except Clinton, informs me that he 

 had the pleasure of sitting by the side of Humboldt at a 

 royal dinner, at Charlottenburg. During the whole time 

 they were engaged in conversing almost exclusively on 

 our great canal, and that greater one which ought to 

 unite in everlasting wedlock the sturdy Atlantic and 

 the teeming Pacific, having now yearned for one another 

 for centuries, Humboldt spoke with a knowledge of 

 details and a sagacious discernment which were sur- 

 prising to my friend, well versed in all the details of 

 these topics. 



" Although it has been stated by high authority that 

 the works of Humboldt show to every one who can 

 *read between the lines' an endeavour to present 

 Nature in her totality, unconnected with Man, I cannot 

 otherwise than state here that, on the contrary, it has 

 ever appeared to me that this great man, studying 

 nature in her details, and becoming what Bacon calls 

 her interpreting priest, he elevates himself to those 

 heights whence he can take a comprehensive view of 

 her in connexion with man and the movements of 



