FROM ACCESSION OF FREDERICK WILLIAM IV. TO 1848. 335 



accuracy in the scientific data, and elegance of diction the 

 first volume of ' Cosmos,' at length saw the light. The apt 

 quotation from Groethe's 'Tasso,' made use of by Frederick 

 William IV. on receiving the work : ' So then I hold it in my 

 hands at last, and call it truly mine ' l . . . . was not only the 

 expression of individual but of national feeling. The long-ex- 

 pected book was received on all sides by sympathetic readers ; 

 while men of science were impressed by the conviction that 

 Humboldt was 'the only living man capable of solving this 

 problem,' 2 the general public regarded the work as the em- 

 bodiment of the spirit of the age. The recognition that was 

 secured to the 'lectures twenty years previously, only after a 

 tedious combat with the prevalent philosophy, was at once 

 frankly accorded to ' Cosmos.' Johannes Miiller, in pleased 

 expectation of the second volume, wrote to Humboldt, on 

 October 30, 1846: 'In view of the remarkable progress in 

 natural science, philosophy has hitherto consoled herself with 

 the thought that to her is reserved the privilege of bringing 

 into unity the various sciences. You have proved, however, 

 that this task comes within the province of the scientific in- 

 vestigator, to whom alone it is possible.' As at that time the 

 first rank in intellectual effort was universally accorded to ex- 

 perimental science, the brilliant view of science presented in 

 ' Cosmos ' excited great enthusiasm even among those not 

 engaged in scientific investigation. We shall not attempt to 

 rehearse the numberless outbursts of enthusiastic admiration 

 which greeted the appearance of the work, from crowned heads 

 to the poor schoolmaster or the enthusiastic student. From 

 Metternich he received thanks for 6 the truly happy hours ' 

 afforded him by the study of the first volume, 3 but the most 

 striking proof of its popularity is to be found perhaps in the 

 following passage, addressed by Humboldt to Jacobi, on No- 

 vember 8, 1846: 'My book, I can say it with some pride, 

 interests me, the author, less than it does the public.' He was 

 agreeably surprised by the reception given to ( Cosmos ' in Eng- 

 land, for which he was scarcely prepared ; to this success the 

 excellent translation by Lady Sabine doubtless largely contri- 



1 < Briefe an Varnhagen,' No. 94. 



2 Ibid. No. 98. 3 Ibid. 



