320 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



reality, concerning which much has been learnt, though much 

 remains to be discovered. It is evident that the arrangement 

 of these points of view was much more a matter of literary 

 taste than of scientific requirement. Humboldt endeavoured 

 to compensate the blemishes thus occasioned in a scientific 

 point of view by the arrangement of the second part of the 

 work, devoted to individual branches of science, in the treat- 

 ment of which the plan of his undertaking allowed him greater 

 liberty. He further remarks to En eke, ' that facts that have 

 appeared in the introductory chapters, especially the " Survey 

 of Nature," whether in the text or in the notes, will not be 

 repeated in the body of the work, but only elucidated or given 

 in greater detail. The capita rerum must all be introduced, 

 but no attempt ought to be made to represent each subject with 

 uniform completeness, for the character of the work and of the 

 mode of treatment is that of an essay. On literary grounds, to 

 sustain the liveliness of the style and the flow of ideas, all that 

 might appear dry and irrelevant will, as in the " Aspects of 

 Nature," be inserted in the notes.' The compound nature of 

 the work, half literary, half scientific, could not be more clearly 

 expressed ; and it is evident from these admissions that, should 

 they come into collision, the author would allow the claims of 

 literature to take precedence. If, after unwearied struggles, the 

 result was not entirely satisfactory, he could console himself 

 with its subjective aspect by the thought that ' the book would 

 be a reflection of himself, as he had passed through life and 

 attained extreme old age.' ' This freedom in the method of 

 treatment,' he adds, 1 ' allows of an aphoristic mode of expres- 

 sion, by which much may be indicated that is not explained. 

 There will of course be much that can only be understood by 

 those who are intimately acquainted with particular branches 

 of natural science ; at the same time, I have endeavoured so to 

 express myself, that there shall be nothing to perplex those 

 whose knowledge is more limited.' With regard to the want 

 of method shown in the selection of quotations, a defect to 

 which his attention had been drawn with most deferential 

 politeness by Bessel, he thus defended himself to Encke, in 



1 ' Briefe an Varnliagen/ No. 54. 



