26 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



almost constantly laid aside by illness. His work on Fish, of 

 which the sixteenth volume is about to appear, yields him more 

 fame than emolument. Pray find him, if you can, some em- 

 ployment more lucrative than the post he occupies at the 

 Jardin des Plantes. M. Villemain is willing to serve me, and 

 he knows the friendship I entertain for M. Valenciennes. He 

 is also aware of the efforts I made to obtain the election of 

 M. Valenciennes to the Institute, even at the risk of incurring 

 the displeasure of the " Journal des Debats " and exciting the 

 wrath of the Grand Precepteur de 1'Institut, who is accustomed to 

 criticise and censure us through the columns of that newspaper, 

 I shall esteem it a favour if you can give this case your con- 

 sideration. It will not be the first time that you have placed 

 me under deep obligation.' It is undoubtedly to be ascribed 

 to Humboldt's influence that Valenciennes received the ap- 

 pointment of Professor of Anatomy at Paris, and it was through 

 Humboldt's personal intercession that on the death of the- 

 venerable Geoffroy de Saint-Hilaire, in 1845, he was elected 

 to sucpeed him at the Academy. 



Karl Sigisinund Kunth is, unquestionably, of all Humboldt's 

 coadjutors, the one who, next to Bonpland, rendered him the 

 most important assistance in his works. He was a nephew of 

 Kunth, the highly esteemed tutor of the brothers Humboldt, 

 and was born in Leipzig on June 18, 1788. He spent from 

 1800 to 1804 at the free school, and was afterwards for a 

 short time at the Thomasschule (Gymnasium), which, in con- 

 sequence of the death of his father, he was obliged to leave 

 in 1805. In the following year he obtained, through his 

 uncle, an appointment as Assistant Commercial Eegistrar at 

 Berlin, where, through the generous patronage of Humboldt, 

 he was enabled to attend the University. On the death of 

 Willdenow he undertook the arrangement of the herbariums 

 collected by Humboldt and Bonpland, for which purpose 

 he was summoned by Humboldt, in 1813, to Paris, where,, 

 besides publishing various comprehensive works on botany, 

 he was actively engaged till the year 1819 on the 'Nova. 

 Grenera.' The journey referred to in the letter of intro- 

 duction to Pictet (page 14) was never accomplished. On his 

 return to Berlin, Kunth was nominated Professor of Botany 



