116 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



tures in general; three to the geographical distribution of 

 plants ; three to the geographical distribution of animals ; and 

 two to the human race. 



Notwithstanding Humboldt's assertion to the contrary, little 

 doubt can now remain that c Cosmos ' is somewhat more inti- 

 mately connected with the lectures than ' merely carrying out 

 the range of subjects which were there treated of.' The value 

 of 'Cosmos' consists to a great extent in the amount of 

 c trustworthy numerical data,' and in the c collection of count- 

 less facts compiled during an extent of reading to which no 

 language presented a barrier, and in which every epoch of 

 literature was embraced with equal fulness ' l a compilation 

 and careful elaboration of a boundless mass of material which 

 was in fact chiefly the work of later years ; but besides the 

 superficial dimensions, so to speak, of this gigantic work, it is 

 equally remarkable for the profundity of the conception in its 

 grand intellectual compass, whether viewed in detail or as a 

 whole : this comprehensive conception, of which the ' ill-defined 

 image had for almost half a century floated before his mind,' was 

 now for the first time if we except the discourses in Paris 

 set forth in a vivid form. The lectures of 1827, to which he 

 himself attached, without premeditation, the name of ' Cosmos,' 

 are more than a mere sketch, and are in reality to be regarded 

 as a cartoon for the great picture of the universe given in 

 * Cosmos,' containing all the important features of the subse- 

 quent work. 



The attendance at Humboldt's public lectures, that is to say, 

 those for which no entrance fee was required, was extremely 

 crowded, and the applause boundless. The lectures are thus 

 referred to in a Berlin newspaper of that date : 2 ' The Uni- 

 versity has received a valued acquisition in the arrival of Herr 

 Dr. Alexander von Humboldt, who, in his capacity of member 

 of the Royal Academy of Sciences, has announced a course of 

 lectures upon the physical constitution of the universe. The 

 opening lecture was delivered on the 3rd of November, before a 

 very crowded audience, and the series are now being continued 

 amid an ever-increasing enthusiasm. By the lucid manner 



1 H. W. Dove, ' Gedachtnissrede auf Alexander von Humboldt/ p. 30. 



2 'Spener'sche Zeitimg' of December 8, 1827. 



