PUBLICATION OF RESULTS OF EXPEDITION TO AMERICA. 11 



tion given to a French edition of the ' Aspects of Nature,' a 

 work in which he ever took a peculiar interest, and which in 

 this form enjoyed a wide circulation. In a frank and straight- 

 forward manner, he requested Malte-Brun, the well-known 

 geographer, to announce the publication of the work, and 

 review it in the ; Journal des Debats,' begging him at the same 

 time to bring his other works, ' Statistics of Mexico ' and the 

 4 Astronomical Observations,' before the notice of the public. 



There was nothing, however, which lay so near his heart at 

 this time as the completion of his American works, the more 

 so as the project of an important expedition into Asia was 

 seriously engaging his attention, and could not be carried 

 into execution until the results of his American travels had 

 been given to the world. The botanical department caused 

 him the greatest anxiety. Bonpland, who had been so inde- 

 fatigable on the journey, and had proved himself unrivalled as 

 a collector and preserver of botanical specimens, seemed totally 

 unfit for close application in-doors, and required to be con- 

 tinually admonished and urged to the work. In September, 

 1810, 1 Humboldt thus wrote to him at Malmaison : 



' You do not send me a line on the subject of botany. I beg 

 and beseech of you to persevere until the work is completed, for 

 since the departure of Madame Grauvin I have received only 

 half a page of manuscript. I am quite determined that the 

 results of our expedition tehall not be lost, and if in the space 

 of eight months it is not possible to produce more than ten 

 plates, which is only what any botanist in Europe would 

 prepare in a fortnight, there is no reason to expect the com- 

 pletion of the second volume of the "Plantes equinoxiales " 



under three years ; M declares that he will not begin 



the printing of the " Species " until this second volume is 

 finished ; I therefore again beseech you, my dear Bonpland, 

 to persevere in this undertaking to the end : it is an object of 

 the highest importance, not only in the interests of science, 

 but for the sake of your own reputation and the fulfilment 

 of those engagements into which you entered with me in 

 1798. Do pray send us some manuscript, for all the assu- 



1 De la Roquette, vol. ii. p. 42. 



