OF BARON HUMBOLDT. 



life were but colossal fragments of a plan 

 too vast, perhaps too sublime, for any single 

 life to complete. It is true lie enjoyed a 

 much longer life, more abundant opportuni- 

 ties, more vigorous and tractable powers of 

 mind, than were given even to the most fortu- 

 nate of men ; but this was not enough. He 

 desired not merely a scientific survey of the 

 earth, but the discovery of those eternal laws 

 which governed its creation, and which still 

 regulate its existence. 



If his life and his powers had been adequate 

 to the task, he would have devoted several 

 years to the exploration of Central Asia. After 

 that he would have wrested from Africa the 

 secrets it contained. He then, from the know- 

 ledge thus collected, could lay down the science 

 of climate, sketch the geographical outlines of 

 continents, define the boundaries of the various 

 systems of plants, animals, and men ; and from 

 the height of his vast experience, strive to 

 comprehend the secrets of that divine system 

 to which the whole order of creation moves. 

 "When the astronomer Kepler, after twenty-five 

 years of labour and suffering, discovered those 

 mathematical laws by which the planets are 

 balanced in space, and the whole solar system 

 was unfolded to his view, he cried out, in a 



