WEIMAK AND JENA. 173 



now engaging our attention are advancing with dispropor- 

 tionate strides, in most cases on a sure foundation, but occa- 

 sionally too hastily, and sometimes even under the influence 

 of fashion. We must not therefore follow too precipitately, 

 since we cannot afford time to wander thoughtlessly in 

 error.' In a still milder tone he writes to Carus : } ' When 

 I observe the advance that science has lately made, I feel like 

 a traveller who at early dawn is journeying eastward, gladly 

 watching the increasing light in earnest longing for the 

 appearance of the great luminary, but who, upon the first 

 sight of the King of Day, is obliged to turn away his eyes, 

 because he cannot bear to look upon the splendour that he has 

 so ardently desired.' 



At length, notwithstanding his proud words, the poet hero 

 bowed before the man of science. Late in the evening of life 

 he writes to Zelter on October 5, 1831 : 2 



' I have received the two volumes of " Fragmens de Greologie 

 et de Climatologie asiatiques, par Alexandre de Humboldt ; " 

 in looking them over, a rather curious observation occurred to 

 me, which I will communicate to you. The extraordinary 

 talent of this extraordinary man is shown in his forcible mode 

 of expressing himself, and it is clearly evident that every 

 discourse will persuade the hearer and make him believe that 

 he is convinced. Few men are capable of being convinced ; 

 most men allow themselves to be persuaded, and thus the 

 treatises here brought before us are real speeches, delivered 

 with great facility, so that people are at last brought to 

 imagine that they comprehend the impossible. That the 

 mountains of Himalaya can have been upheaved to the height 

 of 25,000 feet and yet point so proudly and inflexibly towards 

 heaven as if nothing had happened, is quite beyond the powers 

 of my comprehension, and lies in the misty regions haunted by 

 transubstantiation ; my cerebral system would have to be en- 

 tirely reorganised which would be rather a pity were any 

 space to be found for the reception of such a wonder. 



' There are people, however, /whose minds are so constituted 

 as to be able to receive such articles of faith side by side with 



1 Carus, ' Goethe zu dessen naherm Verstandnisse ' (1843), p. 34. 



2 < Briefwechsel zwisclien Goethe und Zelter,' vol. vi. p. 308. 



