COLLEGE LIFE. 55 



' Engel was explaining to me the other day, in an admirable 

 manner, how we should have been several centuries farther 

 advanced in philosophy, enlightenment, taste, the arts, &c., if, 

 in the great struggle between the bishops of the Greek and 

 Latin Churches, the Western Church had not established its 

 supremacy and introduced, in consequence, Latin instead of 

 Greek literature, the copy instead of the original, an indifferent 

 language in place of the most perfect and complete of all 

 languages. What a vast amount of good must Rome accom- 

 plish before she can repair the mischief wrought by that Roman 

 bishop ! ' 



The theme on which Wegener was engaged in preparation 

 for his examination, c On the Grift of Tongues in Apostolic 

 Times,' gave Humboldt an opportunity of expressing his views 

 upon theological subjects. Whatever may be the value of these 

 sentiments, it is at all events of great interest to notice the 

 variety of his knowledge and the philosophical arrangement 

 of his thoughts a consequence, no doubt, of ' the logical educa- 

 tion given by the Berlin professors.' 



It was during this sojourn at Berlin that Humboldt com- 

 menced the study of botany ; his remarks to Pictet on this 

 subject have already been given in p. 26, but some additional 

 particulars are furnished by the following letter to Wegener 



at Frankfort : 



1 February 25 (1789). 



'I have just come in from a solitary walk in the Thiergarten, 

 where I have been seeking for mosses, lichens, and fungi, which 

 are just now in perfection. How sad to wander about alone! 

 And yet there is something attractive in this solitude when 

 occupied with nature. To be in the complete enjoyment of 

 the purest and most innocent pleasure, surrounded by thousands 

 of creatures rejoicing in the mere fact of existejo.ee (precious 

 thought of the philosophy of Leibnitz ! ), and with a heart lifted - 

 up to Him who, in the language of Petrarch, " muove le stelle 

 e loro viaggio torto, e da vita alle erbe, ai musci, alle pietre " 

 (sic) .... are circumstances, my dear friend, which tinge 

 the reflections they inspire with a certain delicious melancholy ! 

 My friend Willdenow is the only one here who sympathises 

 with me in these pursuits ; but we are both so -closely occupied 



