EESIDENCE AT BERLIN TO THE REVOLUTION OF JULY. 127 



and books are read out from the lecturer's chair, he carefully 

 discriminates between the sphere of a lecturer and the work of 

 an author. c Everything spoken in a lecture,' he replies, ' is not 

 in a form fit for publication ; that which is intended for the 

 press, and designed by this means to be preserved to futurity, 

 ought to be carefully weighed and considered, then written down, 

 revised, refined, and sifted, and lastly authenticated by notes 

 giving authorities and quotations.' In this passage we have 

 a picture of the painstaking labour bestowed upon 4 Cosmos,' 

 and we shall learn hereafter the full meaning intended to be 

 conveyed by Humboldt in the terms c revised, refined, sifted, 

 and authenticated.' He nevertheless at once embraced the 

 idea of compiling from the notes for the lectures a book upon 

 physical geography, and immediately asked Berghaus to com- 

 mence the preparation of an ' Atlas of Physical Geography.' 

 The execution of this undertaking was long delayed in conse- 

 quence of the expedition to Asia, and the discovery in Paris by 

 Humboldt, in 1832, of a map of the world by Juan de la Cosa, 

 by which his mind became diverted to other important 

 schemes. 



If by these lectures Humboldt had done much towards 

 removing the principal impediment to the intellectual progress 

 of Grermany, by bringing the educated public into closer sym- 

 pathy with scientific labourers, the interest he took in the 

 institution of the Scientific Association materially assisted in 

 removing the evil arising from the isolation of men of science 

 engaged in the same field of labour which had always proved 

 a formidable barrier to the advancement of science, and which 

 was doubtless due in part to the political disruption of the 

 country. Many years previously, Humboldt had conceived the 

 idea of establishing, by means of annual gatherings, a closer 

 bond of union among isolated men of science, but he was pre- 

 vented by his prolonged travels from accomplishing his wish, 

 and during his residence in Paris, where everyone lived in close 

 association, the want was not apparent. In the meantime an 

 assembly of natural philosophers and physicians was held for 

 the first time at Leipzig in 1822, at the instigation of Oken, 

 whose fame will be held in more lasting and grateful remem- 

 brance for his patriotism and liberal views than for his achieve- 



