436 HUMBOLDT COMMENCES KOSMOS. 



macy of Prussia and France ; if we read general litera- 

 ture, we find his name in connexion with Schiller and 

 Madame de Stacl ; if we look at modern maps, we find 

 his isothermal lines ; if we consult Grimm's dictionary 

 of the German language, we find Humboldt as authority. 



" That period has arrived to which Croesus alluded in 

 the memorable exclamation, Oh, Solon, Solon, Solon ! 

 and we are now allowed to say, that Humboldt was one of 

 the most gifted, most fortunate, and most favoured mor- 

 tals — favoured even with comeliness, with a brow so 

 exquisitely formed that irrespective of its being the 

 sj^mbol of lofty thought, it is pleasant to look upon in his 

 busts as a mere beautiful thing — favoured even in his 

 name, so easily uttered by all nations which were des- 

 tined to pronounce it. 



" When we praj^, not only for the kindly fruits of the 

 earth, but also, as we ought to do, for the kindly fruits 

 of the mind, let us always gratefully remember that He 

 who gives all blessed things, has given to our age and to 

 all posterity, such a man as Humboldt." 



The publication of the narrative of the expedition to 

 the Ural, by Eose, in 1837-42, and of Humboldt's 

 " Central Asia" in 1843, gave the latter the leisure that 

 he needed to begin the long-delayed "Kosmos." To the 

 publication of this work, which was to embody the sub- 

 stance of his lectures delivered at Berlin in 1828-29, 

 Humboldt had in some sort committed himself, before 

 starting on the Asiatic journey. As he remembered 

 only the outlines of his lectures (there were sixty-one in 

 all, the reader will remember, and they were delivered 

 without notes), he was obliged to go over the whole 

 ground anew. He had begun to do so, we have already 



