OF BARON HUMBOLDT. 17 



harmony with distinguishing facts, but in 

 accordance with principles, and a natural 

 philosophical school constituted itself, which 

 found in Geoffrey St. Hilaire, Schelling, and 

 Oaken, the principal representatives. Hum- 

 boldt and Cuvier entered simultaneously upon 

 their researches as naturalists. He directed 

 himself to facts ; he examined and compared, 

 without ever taking a direct part in the battle 

 of the philosophers, because he had entered 

 upon a new road a higher and a more compre- 

 hensive point of view. He endeavoured to 

 comprehend the universe in all its grandeur. 

 Nature should, through a perfect comprehension 

 of its powers and its laws, in general and in 

 particular, become a lively object of human 

 knowledge an open book in which the isolated 

 and the small explains itself through the whole 

 and the great. The immense territories of 

 his researches were : 1 . The knowledge of 

 the earth and its inhabitants ; 2. The dis- 

 covery of the higher laws of nature, which 

 govern the universe, men, animals, plants, and 

 minerals ; 3. The discovery of new forms of 

 life; 4. The discovery of territories hitherto 

 but imperfectly known, and their various pro- 

 ductions ; 5. The acquaintance with new 

 species of the human race, their manners, Ian- 



