APPENDIX. 397 



there as a curiosity ; now I am chosen as their arbitrator ! My 

 decision has naturally been in favour of Brazil, for I was ambitious 

 of possessing the Grand Order, and the Republic of Venezuela has 

 none to bestow ! " I interrupted this strain of bitter irony with 

 the exclamation, "How times have changed!" "Yes," he at 

 once replied, " first the warrant for arrest, and then the Grand 

 Order ! " ' 



5. AIM BONPLAND. 



Aime Bonpland stands intimately associated with Alexander von 

 Humboldt, not only as his faithful companion during his travels in 

 America, but also as his able coadjutor in the publication of his 

 works. He was Humboldt's junior by four years, having been born 

 on August 22, 1773, at La Bochelle. Adopting the profession of 

 his father, he devoted himself to the study of medicine, and in 1793 

 served for a short time in the navy as surgeon on board a frigate of 

 the Republic, which was cruising in the Atlantic during the war 

 with England. He subsequently visited Paris, and attended the 

 lectures of Corvisart, Dessaut, and Bichat. The interest he took 

 in medical science was, however, far surpassed by the keen zest 

 with which he" followed the achievements in zoology and geography 

 of Buffon and Daubenton, and the labours of Jussieu in botany ; 

 with industrious zeal, he sought to follow in the track of these dis- 

 tinguished investigators. His extensive acquirements and scientific 

 endowments had already met with recognition when he received the 

 appointment of botanist to the expedition under the command of 

 Baudin, fitted out by order of the Directory. He was probably at 

 that time already acquainted with Humboldt. 1 



Bonpland was without means, while Humboldt was in possession 

 of a considerable fortune, which, in a spirit of true disinterestedness, 

 he was willing to expend in the service of science. It was not long, 

 therefore, ere the bond was formed which gave completeness to each 

 of these men. While Humboldt had devoted himself with peculiar 

 energy to the study of inanimate nature, to mathematics, and the 

 observation of terrestrial phenomena, directing his attention mainly 

 to the unity of Nature, the comparison of her various phenomena, 

 and the mutual relationships existing therein, Bonpland was more 



1 ' How did you first become acquainted with Bonpland ? ' enquired Dove on one 

 occasion from Humboldt. ' In the simplest manner in the world,' he replied. 

 ' You know that when giving up the key of one's apartments on going out, one 

 generally exchanges a few friendly words with the porter's wife. While so doing 

 I often encpuntered a young man with a botanist's satchel over his arm ; this 

 was Bonpland ; and in this manner we made acquaintance.' (H. W. Dove, 

 ' Gedachtnissrede auf Alexander von Humboldt,' Berlin, 1869, p. 9.) 



