14 SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



"been since lie was there. " I never was there," 

 was the answer ; " but I intended going sixty 

 years ago, and therefore prepared myself." A 

 still more striking instance of this power of 

 memory was exhibited when some ladies were 

 brought to his house to be introduced to him. 

 Among them was the daughter of a gentleman 

 in Philadelphia, with whom he had resided in 

 1804, long before she was born. On entering 

 the room, Humboldt exclaimed, without the 

 slightest doubt or hesitation, " You must be 

 the daughter of my old friend in Philadelphia." 

 The most prominent traits in Alexander von 

 Humboldt's character, universally acknow- 

 ledged, were his sincerity and his simplicity. 

 Possessed of all the tastes of a man of the 

 world ; endowed with all the graces which the 

 best societies in Europe could impart ; with all 

 the prerogatives of his birth and position; 

 with all the tempting prospects of an exalted 

 station in his own country, he, with charac- 

 teristic sincerity, followed rather the natural 

 yearning of his soul, and consecrated himself a 

 servant of science and humanity. He sacrificed 

 cheerfully ease and comfort, and laid upon 

 the altar of science all, in search for that 

 knowledge, which would expand the concep- 

 tions of ourselves and the world in which we 



