KESIDENCE AT BERLIN TO THE REVOLUTION OF JULY. 87 



found as yet no general sympathetic interest among the educated 

 classes. During his residence at Paris, Humboldt had been 

 accustomed with his pursuit of science to a large admixture of 

 the social element ; his universal interest in science led him, 

 even in society, to seek information, as opportunity served, 

 on a variety of subjects, in which he was withheld from personal 

 investigation either from lack of time or want of preparatory 

 study. Facilities of this nature so abundantly offered to him 

 at Paris were, notwithstanding the existence of the Academy, 

 to a great extent denied him at Berlin : this loss was partly to 

 be attributed to his position with the king, for his days being 

 spent in the unscientific atmosphere of court life, he had some 

 difficulty, when needing special information, in finding oppor- 

 tunity for personal intercourse with scientific men of distinction. 

 It is significant to notice the manner in which he expressed 

 himself shortly before taking up his residence at Berlin upon the 

 different estimate of scientific genius in France and Germany, 

 upon which depends the existence of a comprehensive intel- 

 lectual society. From Paris he writes to Berghaus, 1 on July 

 1, 1825: 'German patriotism is a high-sounding word ! In 

 1813 it served to fire the hearts of German youths on the other 

 side the Elbe ! And what has resulted from that infinite waste 

 of blood and treasure? The probable issue was already evi- 

 dent in 1814, when the crowned heads congregated here. My 



brother went to Vienna with the best intentions, but ! 



In this city of the world, men of talent soon meet with appre- 

 ciation ; but this is by no means the case at Berlin, where a thick 

 nebulous atmosphere circumscribes the range of vision, and 

 everything is estimated by a literary standard. You ought to 

 have returned to France as soon as the conclusion of peace had 

 released you from military duty, for by virtue of the act of the 

 5th of April, 1795, you are by birth a Frenchman.' The 

 crowned heads and diplomatists of the Congress of Vienna, 

 much as they erred, are only indirectly responsible for the 

 want of appreciation for the achievements of science. Apart 

 from the miserable condition of the country, politically, the 

 nation was, in itself, too undeveloped, socially and commercially, 



1 l Briefwechsel A. von Huinboldt's mit Heinrich Berghaus/ vol. i. p. 6. 



