214 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



extravagant address delivered on August 4, 1844, 1 on the cele- 

 bration of the fortieth anniversary of Humboldt's return from 

 America, speaks of that return as a ' culminating point in the 

 history of science and in the annals of civilisation.' 'Nature,' 

 he remarks, ' as displayed in both hemispheres, was exhibited 

 for the first time in all the power of her contrasts, and in her 

 strongly marked individuality ; in her harmonious obedience 

 to law, and in the rugged grandeur of her sublimity. The con- 

 fusion resulting from chance being regarded as the arbitrator 

 of existence was completely set aside, and in its stead there 

 was brought out a harmony hitherto unsuspected in the causes 

 of the multifarious phenomena of Nature ; science in all its 

 branches and speculative thought were elevated to a higher 

 platform, and every civilised nation taught to realise the 

 wealth it possessed in the productions of Nature.' In this 

 address, Kitter distinctly states that 'comparative geography 

 was originated by this expedition,' and modestly adds that, ' in 

 a time of universal drought it was from this source that his 

 own feeble endeavours to trace, within a limited field of re- 

 search, the connection between remote districts of the earth, 

 derived their chief stimulus.' The extravagance of these ex- 

 pressions must be viewed in the spirit in which they were re- 

 garded by Humboldt, who, with much tact, in his reply, termed 

 them ' hyperboles of friendship,' in which ' endeavours are 

 described as deeds, projects as accomplished facts, and a 

 prominence given to the individual which is due in reality to 

 the community or to the age in which he lived.' The relation- 

 ship existing between the geographic labours of Humboldt 

 and Ritter, after making allowance for the extravagance of their 

 mutual admiration, is somewhat as follows. Though it may be 

 erroneous to attribute to Humboldt the influence in the growth 

 of comparative geography ascribed to him by Kitter, it never- 

 theless seems a fact that to him is due the first conception of 

 the science, but the stimulus of Ritter's powerful mind seems to 

 have been requisite to give to this conception a vivid reality. 

 Valuable as were the geographical results contributed by Hum- 

 boldt in his great works on America and Asia, he was yet 



1 ' Zeitschrift fur allgemeine Erdlumde/ New Series, vol. vi. p. 384. 



