212 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



Cancrin, 1 by whom it was communicated with the knowledge 

 and consent of the Czar, it seemed therefore but an appropriate 

 act of gratitude to dedicate this more complete work to the 

 Emperor Nicholas. 



If to Humboldt the importance of the Asiatic expedition 

 consisted in its elevating him above the one-sided effect of 

 having contemplated nature exclusively in the New World, and 

 in leading him, so to speak, to feel experimentally that the earth, 

 in common with every other object, is possessed of opposite 

 sides, it is easy to understand -why the work -upon Central Asia, 

 slight as were the data for the systematic configurations of the 

 earth's surface, yet presents a grander 'view of ' comparative 

 geography than "had been manifested in any of his previous 

 writings, much as he* loved this branch of science, and fully as 

 it was afterwards developed in ' Cosmos,' of which the first two 

 volumes were at this time near completion. It was in this 

 year that Karl Eitter, designated by Humboldt in the intro- 

 duction to the ' Asie centrale ' as ' my distinguished and highly 

 valued friend,' was occupied with a new delineation of Asia for 

 his ' Universal Comparative Geography,' and it is only in the 

 present day, as it is expressed in ' Cosmos,' 2 c that comparative 

 geography has received a treatment worthy of the subject, in 

 showing its connection with the history of the human race and 

 the advancement of civilisation, inasmuch as the configuration 

 of the earth is proved 'to have been an important element in 

 the dispersion of nations.' That Humboldt felt that he had 

 derived considerable assistance from Karl Eitter's work on 

 Asia, is evident from the following letter of acknowledgment 

 addressed to him in 1832, upon the receipt of the first volume 

 of the second edition : -< I am quite unable, my dear friend, 

 to find in any language suitable expressions whereby to convey 

 to you an adequate conception of the genuine admiration with 

 which your gigantic work upon Asia has filled me. For the 

 past two years I have been eagerly occupied, with the assistance 

 of every source of information, upon the study of Central Asia, 

 and yet upon how many points has light burst in upon me 



1 Introduction to the ' Asie centrale.' ' Briefwechsel mit Berghaus,' in 

 several letters throughout vols. i. and ii. 



2 ' Kosmos/ vol. ii. p. 60. 





