PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 257 



regretted, however, that the chronological order of the journey 

 has not been preserved, and that in some places his own 

 observations have not been recorded in a manner sufficiently 

 distinctive as to enable the reader at once to recognise the 

 investigations that are to be ascribed to Humboldt and to him 

 alone. ' It was one of the essential qualities of his being, 

 which his vast learning and extensive reading greatly con- 

 tributed to strengthen, that there was no subject engaging his 

 attention in which he did not seek to make himself master of 

 all the information that could be obtained concerning it ; and 

 as everything remained present to his astounding memory, he 

 readily discovered links of connection between kindred subjects, 

 points of comparison between the labours of others and the 

 results he had himself obtained, proofs and evidences in favour 

 of his new theories, and supplementary data upon those points 

 which he had either been unable as yet to explain, or which, 

 from the mass of observations needing to be recorded, had been 

 hitherto set aside as of least value, and were now found worthy 

 of greater prominence. His love of completeness often led him 

 to introduce the results obtained by the labours of others into 

 his own observations, from which they were not separated with 

 sufficient clearness for the reader always to discover for which 

 he was alone indebted to Humboldt.' 1 



The statement here made by Encke in reference to Humboldt's 

 astronomical determination of places is equally applicable to 

 other branches of science ; it must not, however, be deduced 

 from these remarks that Humboldt laid claim to the labours of 

 others. No one was in this respect more considerate and just, 

 or more forgetful of self, no one was more emphatic in declining 

 the honour of scientific achievements falsely attributed to him. 

 The results of his own scientific labours would have stood in 

 a still clearer light had they not been mixed up with the 

 labours of others. It is true that science suffers no loss by this, 

 but the compilation of his biography is rendered more difficult. 

 This peculiarity of incorporating the labours of others is very 

 conspicuous in the ' Personal Narrative,' a work which supplies 



1 Encke, ( Alexander von Humboldt's astronomische Ortbestimmungen in 

 den Monatsberichten der Berliner Akadeinie der Wissenschaften,' October 

 1859, p. 639. 



VOL. I. S 



