336 ALEXANDER VON IIUMBOLDT. 



buted. 1 The work soon spread beyond the boundaries of his 

 native land ; besides the French edition, superintended by him- 

 self, Humboldt could, in November 1846, boast of translations 

 in English, Dutch, and Italian ; lie assures Schumacher, not 

 quite correctly, that they were never all together in his house. 

 He watched with some anxiety the criticisms of the press ; and 

 eagerly defended himself in letters to his friends upon the 

 points attacked, which were not numerous, and related princi- 

 pally to style. He even thought it worth while to vindicate 

 himself from the various accusations of heresy to which he was 

 everywhere exposed from the pietists and ultramontane party. 

 It would be wholly unworthy of the enlightened spirit of this 

 biography even to allude to the various publications in which 

 a note of warning - was raised against the outrage supposed to 

 be committed in c Cosmos ' upon the doctrines of revealed reli- 

 gion. These warning voices failed even to disturb the calm of 

 the pious mind of Frederick William IV. 2 He himself de- 

 signed, in 1847, the beautiful commemoration medal, executed 

 by Cornelius. 3 On one side was a profile of Humboldt in bold 

 relief; while on the reverse, surrounded by the signs of the 

 zodiac, and a wreath of tropical foliage, was a Genius, with a 

 plumbline and a telescope, drawing aside the veil from Nature ; 

 upon him gazes the Sphinx, as if awaiting the solution of her 

 enigma. In the foreground are electrical fish ; while above 

 stands inscribed, in Greek characters, the word which has be- 

 come the watchword of the age 



K02MOS. 



1 On the success attending the reception of i Cosmos ' in England, see the 

 latter half of the l Briefwechsel mit Bunsen.' 



2 ' Briefe an Varnhagen/ No. 94. 



3 See ' Briefe an Bunsen/ p. 105. 



