390 ALEXANDEK VON HUMBOLDT. 



between all telluric phenomena received their fullest illustration 

 and most perfect development during this expedition. 



Humboldt, upon his return from Asia, was in his sixty-first 

 year. The earnest longing to visit foreign lands, which he had 

 cherished from childhood, had received its fullest gratification 

 in the widely extended travels which had furnished such 

 important results, and with this journey his unsettled career as 

 a traveller was brought to a close. Henceforth commenced 

 the peaceful years of unwearied labour, when, in the retirement 

 of his study, he occupied himself in giving forth to the world 

 the embodiment of the final results of his scientific labours and 

 his comprehensive views of nature in his celebrated philoso- 

 phical work ' Cosmos.' 



