156 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



by which poor humanity can possibly be afflicted.' Nearly 

 all the letters written by him during the winter of 1828-29 

 are tinged with the ' tone of sadness ' inspired by the deep 

 sympathy which bound him to his afflicted brother, and the 

 grief he himself experienced at the loss of ' one of the most 

 gifted and amiable of women.' 1 His only consolation was that 

 the sufferer was ' mercifully granted a peaceful release, and 

 passed away in a state of unconsciousness.' The death of his 

 sister-in-law took place on March 18, 1829, and the distress 

 and grief consequent upon this event rendered it a matter of 

 great effort on the part of Alexander von Humboldt to carry 

 out his expedition to Asia ; the affectionate letters he wrote 

 to his 'poor brother' during the journey show how eager he 

 was to replace as far as lay in his power the love that he had 

 been called to relinquish. In a letter from lekaterinbourg, 

 dated July 14, he expresses with deep feeling his thanks for 

 four letters from William von Humboldt ' received almost 

 simultaneously, during his sojourn there : ' I do not know 

 how to thank you sufficiently, my dear brother, I can scarcely 

 realise my happiness. ... At no former period of my life 

 have I ever been so capable of appreciating this kind of 

 happiness. We have of late been drawn so closely together, 

 and I have learned to appreciate so fully the sweetness and 

 gentleness of your nature, that the pleasure of hearing from 

 you in the midst of this moral desert is far greater than it is 

 in my power to express.' A journey undertaken by his brother 

 had aroused his fears, and he adds : ' Your existence has never 

 before seemed to me so precious. Tell dear Caroline that I 

 thought of her very often upon her birthday. The affection 

 which comes from the depths of the heart is not to be lightly 

 esteemed.' The remainder of the letter is doubly interesting 

 from the striking proof it affords of the high esteem existing 

 between the brothers, and of the appreciation each accorded to 

 the penetration and intellectual power of the other. Before 

 giving the passage it will be well to state some of the circum- 

 stances to which it alludes. 



King Frederick William had in May, 1829, appointed 



1 In several letters to Schumacher, Reich, Cancrin, &c. 



