22 SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



acquisitions of science, from the earliest periods 

 to our own time, establishing science on a 

 firmer basis. 



The wonderful capacities of Humboldt ap- 

 pear from the fact that he, in his early days, 

 at the time when certain sciences made their 

 first appearance, as, for example, Physi- 

 ology, the science of animal and vegetable 

 organism, made observations and produced 

 results, whose importance and truth were,, 

 only fifty years afterwards, fully compre- 

 hended and appreciated, and which proved 

 the remarkable talent of observation of the 

 youthful Humboldt. 



Which are the great labours which immor- 

 talize the name of Alexander von Humboldt ? 

 Which new branches of science did he encourage 

 and originate ? What harvest did he bring for 

 the physical sciences in general? We will 

 endeavour to give a brief and general reply to 

 these questions, ere we proceed with the per- 

 sonal history of the great savant. 



Humboldt was the first who obtained a clear 

 insight into the relation of all elements of the 

 earth to the universe in general; and he arranged 

 the former complication, in the planless classi- 

 fication of isolated facts, with keen penetra- 

 tion and perfect distinctness ; he separated 



