FEOM EEVOLUTION OF JULY TO DEATH OF THE KING. 179 



attended a fresh course of lectures on astronomy by Arago. 

 On the other hand, he gratified his Parisian friends by reading 

 out to them selected portions of the ' Examen critique ' in the 

 drawing-rooms of Chateaubriand and Madame Kecamier. 1 



Although many of these facts have been already mentioned 

 in the description of Humboldt's mode of life at Paris, 2 it has 

 seemed necessary to revert to them briefly here, lest by viewing 

 him too exclusively in the light of a diplomatist, his scientific 

 activity might be overlooked. Even during this period he 

 continued to employ the artifice of having two residences, one 

 for official visitors, and another for the reception of his scien- 

 tific friends. His letters to Germany are full of satisfaction at 

 the peaceful asylum granted him by Arago in the entresol of 

 the Institute, and of commendations scarcely less enthusiastic 

 on the habit of dining late, which enabled him to pursue his 

 scientific labours uninterruptedly as long as daylight lasted, and 

 permitted him to enjoy till a late hour the complete relaxation 

 afforded by the pleasures of social intercourse. We may further 

 remind the reader that in this year occurred that fierce con- 

 tention among the members of the Institute on the nomination 

 of a new foreign associate, in which, as we learn from the 

 graphic description given by Karl Vogt, Humboldt exerted 

 himself for his candidate with all the passionate zeal of the 

 leader of a faction, and relied as much upon the weapons of a 

 cautious diplomacy as upon the weight of his personal influence. 

 In the midst of the intrigues by which in his position he could 

 not fail to be surrounded, he preserved unimpaired the remark- 

 able naivete of his benevolent and affectionate disposition, an 

 interesting proof of which has been preserved to us by Agassiz, 

 who, coming to Paris shortly after the Eevolution of July, had 

 there the privilege of making Humboldt's acquaintance. 



Agassiz received permission from his patron to visit him at 

 his laboratory in the Rue de la Harpe ; there he was en- 

 couraged not merely to relate the details of his scientific 

 labours, but to consult him upon the difficulties which he a 

 young doctor of medicine encountered in struggling not only 



1 ' Briefe an Yarnhagen/ p. 57. 



2 Vol. ii. pp. 48-71. 



* 2 



