130 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



adds : ' There is, however, a serious side to this subject, it 

 is a noble manifestation of scientific union in Grermany ; it pre- 

 sents the spectacle of a nation divided in politics and religion 

 revealing its nationality in the realm of intellectual progress.' 



It was the recognition of the national importance of the 

 Association that gained for the meeting such an enthusiastic 

 reception from all classes at Berlin. 1 ' For the first time every 

 variety of Grerman dialect was heard in the same assembly; 

 everyone crowded round Oken, to whom Germany was indebted 

 for this bond of union from which foreigners were not to be 

 excluded. Nor had the inhabitants of other lands failed to hear 

 the call: the Scandinavians, mindful of their ancient tie of 

 kinship, and not as yet separated from sympathetic interest in 

 Grermany by the distractions of political strife, sent their best 

 champions to the Association, Berzelius attending as the repre- 

 sentative of Sweden, and Oersted of Denmark. For the enter- 

 tainment of such foreigners a host of distinction was needed,' 

 and Humboldt was elected president of the Association: his 

 opening address, delivered in the music hall on the morning of 

 September 18, has been justly designated by one who was present 

 as ; a masterpiece, distinguished as much by its intrinsic worth 

 and power as by its eloquence and candour ; ' it is as follows : 

 ' Since it is to the favour of your votes that I owe the dis- 

 tinguished honour of presiding over this assembly, my first 

 duty shall be the expression of my gratitude. This mark 

 of distinction conferred upon one who has not before been 

 privileged to attend any of your meetings, is not to be looked 

 upon merely as a recompense -for a few feeble efforts in the 

 cause of science, to discover amid a multitude of phenomena 

 some guiding principle, and to shed a gleam of truth upon 

 the perplexing mysteries of nature ; feelings of a tenderer 

 character have influenced you in this choice. In this mark 

 of favour I read the acknowledgment that during an absence 

 of many years in a foreign country, while engaged in working 

 in sympathy with my friends at home towards a common ob- 

 ject, I was never unmindful of my native land. The gratifying 



1 We are indebted for the following to H. W. Dove, ' Gedachtnissrede auf 

 A. von Humboldt/ pp. 5 and 6 ; Varnhagen, ' Blatter/ vol. v. pp. 313-317, 

 and several of Humboldt's unpublished letters. 



