COLLEGE LIEE. 9 



basalt had once covered the whole earth, never seemed to me 

 more reasonable or more obvious than at Linz and Unkel, 

 where I noticed horizontal layers of basalt upon the highest 

 summits. I shall be severely censured for this confession by 

 many of our geologists, and my pamphlet (if it be not alto- 

 gether overlooked) will be subjected to no tender criticism. 

 But such considerations shall never prevent me from saying 

 what I feel to be true, and I trust that I shall always maintain 

 this resolution. I have resided for a considerable time in 

 a region that has been called volcanic, and I have industriously 

 traversed on foot the mountains of Hanover, Hesse, and the 

 Rhine, as well as those in the neighbourhood of Zweibriicken ; 

 but I cannot accept the hypothesis so charmingly set forth by 

 De Luc in his geological work, " Lettres physiques et morales." 



6 You have rendered to the science of mineralogy as great 

 and important a service as that rendered to botany by Lin- 

 naeus. In your work upon the external characteristics of 

 minerals and your various other treatises, you have given us a 

 philosophy of mineralogy. Through your investigations law 

 has been discovered, confusion has been banished from the terms, 

 and the rules for determining species and families laid down. 

 Would that you could soon complete the work, and construct for 

 us an entire system ! 



c I know how little my voice can do against the utterances of 

 so many greater and more distinguished men ; yet I hope you 

 will kindly pardon this rash expression of sentiment. 



6 1 cannot flatter myself that I am known to you. My small 

 botanical essays are too insignificant to have come under your 

 notice, and though I was among the foremost of those who 

 crowded round you on your last visit to Gottingen, I cannot 

 suppose that you retain any remembrance of my name. I 

 crave your kind indulgence both for this letter and the accom- 

 panying pamphlet. I am still very young, and though back- 

 ward in many branches of knowledge, I am at least sensible of 

 my deficiencies and anxious to repair them. With the assurance 

 of the most profound respect and esteem, I remain, &c. 



' I leave here to-morrow for Hamburg. Should you be dis- 

 posed to favour me with a reply, my address will be : Herr von 

 Humboldt, care of Professor Biisch, Hamburg.' 



