18 SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



guages, and historical traces of their culture. 

 In this extensive field Humboldt laboured with 

 unwearied activity, care, and perseverance. 

 The natural consequences of his researches 

 manifested themselves in all the branches of 

 scientific and practical knowledge, and found 

 application in numerous circles of life. His 

 vivid and glowing description, never yet 

 surpassed, of scenes witnessed in distant 

 countries, awakened a desire for travel ; they 

 furnished new instruction ; the charm of 

 his descriptions inspired numerous youths 

 with a love for nature's beauty; many a 

 thoughtful man, with the resolve to study the 

 laws of nature ; and even many a female heart, 

 attracted by the fabulous tropics and the love 

 for grandeur of scenery, learned to pronounce 

 with veneration the name of him whose person 

 is surrounded, in the conception of many, with 

 the enchanting brightness of the mysterious 

 and the marvellous, when they meet him in the 

 description of adventurous mariners, or the 

 perilous wanderings in the wild burning terri- 

 tories of the southern hemisphere. 



It has been already said that Humboldt' s 

 researches were too varied and too vast to gain 

 for him pre-eminence in one branch of science 

 exclusively. Scientific travellers have either 



