xli 



He made Paris his residence from 1805 till 1827, occupying him- 

 self with the publication of the results of his travels, in eight 

 separate works, and with various chemical and physical researches. 

 He visited Naples with Gay-Lussac and v. Buch in 1805. During 

 the residence of Prince William of Prussia in Paris in 1807-1808, 

 Humboldt held a diplomatic appointment. In 1814 he accompanied 

 his elder brother Wilhelm v. Humboldt, then sent on an embassy to 

 London, and was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 

 1815. His ' Memoire sur les lignes isothermes ' appeared in 1817. 

 He was present at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1818, and at 

 that of Verona in 1822, and in the same year accompanied the late 

 King of Prussia to Naples. 



From the year 1827 he made Berlin his home. In 1829 he 

 travelled with Ehrenberg and G. Rose, under the auspices of the 

 Emperor Nicholas, through Siberia, as far as the frontiers of China. 

 The results of this journey, which lasted nine months, are pub- 

 lished in his * Asie Centrale,'and in G. Rose's ' Reise nach dem Ural, 

 Altai, und dem Caspischen Meere.* 



After the French Revolution of 1830, v. Humboldt was commis- 

 sioned by Frederick William III. to recognize the accession of Louis 

 Philippe on the part of Prussia. About this time he completed his 

 'Examen critique de la Geographic du nouveau Continent.' In 

 1 84 1 he accompanied King Frederick William IV. to England, and 

 visited Paris for the last time in the winter of 1847-1848. In 1845 

 he published the first volume of ' Cosmos,' a work which may be 

 regarded as a development upon an extended scale of his * Ansichten 

 der Natur,' the third edition of which appeared in 1849. The first 

 part of the fourth volume of ' Cosmos ' appeared early in 1858 ; the 

 second part is so far prepared that no obstacles to its completion are 

 anticipated. 



He enjoyed good health till near the end of his life. In October 

 1858, he was attacked by an illness from which he never com- 

 pletely recovered. On the 21st of April, 1859, in consequence of a 

 cold, he was unable to leave his bed. He retained the use of his 

 faculties till the morning of the 6th of May, when he became speech- 

 less, and died at half-past two in the afternoon of the same day. 



In 1852 the Royal Society awarded him the Copley Medal for his 

 eminent services in Terrestrial Physics, and he considered this to be 



d 



