FROM ACCESSION OF FREDERICK WILLIAM IV. TO 1848. 277 



subject, as the eccentric curiosity of Frederick William found 

 interest even in meteorological phenomena. 



In the period now before us, the services Humboldt rendered 

 to science consisted mainly in the patronage he was able to ' 

 accord. Countless letters are still extant bearing testimony to 

 his indefatigable exertions to enlist in the support of various 

 scientific undertakings the interest of the king, the Govern- 

 ment, or the Academy, and to obtain increased remuneration 

 for the professors at the Universities, that men of power and 

 distinction might have no temptation to accept the alluring 

 proposals of foreign countries, but should find it their best 

 interest to seek to fill the vacancies that might occur in their 

 own land. We are withheld from entering into details from 

 the circumstance that many of the persons here referred to are 

 still living ; but the reader may feel assured that in every- 

 thing of this nature Humboldt lent his assistance. It may well 

 be asked by those attentively considering the subject why so 

 little was accomplished, and how it was that Humboldt's in- 

 fluence was either so frequently disregarded or only took effect 

 after an amount of delay that must have been exceedingly irri- 

 tating. The anomaly is to be explained by the unsatisfactory 

 nature of his non-offisial position. It cannot, indeed, be suffi- 

 ciently regretted that he was not invested with some official 

 power if only as minister for instruction and entrusted with 

 the responsibilities inseparably attached to a government ap- 

 pointment. The responsibilities of office would doubtless have 

 acted as a wholesome check upon his impressionable nature, 

 which led him, even in matters of patronage, to be too easily 

 influenced. From his unofficial position, he was restricted to 

 efforts of an unusual and extraordinary character ; and it was 

 therefore no wonder that he constantly complained of being 

 crossed, opposed, and hindered by the tedious and unalterable - 

 routine of government operations. With the exception of eccle- 

 siastical affairs, and the interests of art, Frederick. William IV. 

 soon left the cares of Government to his Minister of Public 

 Instruction. The Minister of Public Instruction, therefore, and 

 the Minister of Finance, upon whom the onus of refusal was 

 generally thrown, either honestly or by way of excuse, were re- 

 garded by Humboldt as two adverse powers, which, in the cause 



