COLLEGE LIFE. 59 



iicial acquaintance with, the multifarious subjects he treats 

 of. I have had a good opportunity of judging of his scien- 

 tific attainments during a course of lectures on technology, 

 which, as delivered by Zdllner, are well worth the cost of 

 100 ducats, for they are replete with information on a great 

 variety of subjects, such as mechanics, hydraulics, botany, 

 physics, chemistry, medicine, mineralogy, &c. Biester re- 

 marked very truly of him the other day : " What does Zollner 

 not know ? " His knowledge of medicine is so extensive that 

 some time ago he was desirous of undertaking a course of lec- 

 tures on anatomy. I heard this from some of the physicians 

 here.' 



Humboldt continued to cultivate the art of drawing in all its 

 branches. Besides free-hand drawing, he practised plan-draw- 

 ing, designing, and engineer-drawing, as well as the art of 

 etching. Among other specimens in our possession are two 

 heads ten inches by seven : the one inscribed ' Eaphael pinx.' 

 'A. v. Humboldt fee. aqua forti, 1788,' is a study from the 

 ' School of. Athens,' and is the head of a figure in the right- 

 hand lower group at the extreme left of the picture ; the 

 other represents the half-length figure of a man with a beard, 

 clothed in rich drapery and wearing a turban, and bears the 

 inscription ,' Kembrant pinx.' ' A. v. Humboldt fee. aqua 

 forti, 1788.' The work of another hand is visible in many 

 places in this etching, and though neither of the heads possess 

 any especial merit as works of art, they are nevertheless of 

 undoubted interest as being the work of Humboldt when a 

 youth. 



Under the tuition of Fischer, Humboldt had made consider^- 

 able progress in applied mathematics, and he now devoted him- 

 self with marked success to the study of the practical sciences. 

 After remarking of his brother, then at Gottingen, ' he is 

 killing himself with study, has already read the whole of 

 Kant's works, and lives and moves in his system,' he continues : 

 4 1 expect to learn a great deal from him, for I have no time at 

 present to think of such subjects. I am so busily occupied 

 with practical matters, that speculation must needs be laid on 

 the shelf.' 



