BREAKING UP. 46^ 



usual effects of apoplexy. One result, howev^er, shows 

 that my body is beginning to give way. I have not the 

 same power of controlling my limbs as formerly ; the 

 will does not seem to act upon the muscles ; there is a 

 link broken somewhere, which it is probably too late to 

 restore. For instance, very often, when I attempt to 

 walk straight forward, I do not feel certain that my legs 

 will carry me in a straight line ; they may go either to 

 one side or the other, and, though I cannot notice any 

 real want of strength, I feel uncertain and mistrustful. 

 For this reason, I must have assistance when I go up or 

 down stairs. After all, it is not singular that some parts 

 of the machinery should get rusty, at my age.' Soon 

 afterward, while speaking of Thibet, he referred to a very 

 fine copperplate map, and I noticed that he saw the most 

 minute names distinctly, without the aid of spectacles. 

 But then he has the eyes of a youth of twenty years. 

 Age may palsy his limbs, but it has never looked out of 

 those windows. 



" After I had been sitting an hour, Seifert came to the 

 door and said : ' The two gentlemen have come — shall 

 I admit them?' I rose to leave, but Humboldt said : 

 ' No, no — ^remain. They are from Hong-Kong ; per- 

 haps you know them.' I looked at the cards, and 

 recognised an acquaintance in the name of an editor of a 

 Hong-Kong paper. The other was a Government 

 official. After they entered, the conversation took a 

 more general tone, but I was not sorry for this afterwards, 

 as it gave Humboldt occasion to recall some scenes of 

 his early life. One of the visitors spoke of Frederic the 

 Great. ' I remember him well,' said Humboldt : ' I 

 was sixteen years old when he died, and I can see hi^ 



