48 SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



tion of a few, their relative distance from our 

 planet." 



In pursuit of the exact method of investiga- 

 tion in the selection of the Mediterranean Sea 

 as the point from whence he started, with the 

 history of physical science, Humboldt noticed 

 likewise in the Mediterranean three separate 

 and smaller basins, one near the other, the 

 -^Egean, Ionian, and the Tyrrhenian. He dis- 

 covered in these forms of the Mediterranean, 

 three times contracted, the great influence both 

 upon the earliest limitation and earliest exten- 

 sion in the exploration of the Phoenicians and 

 the Greeks; he pointed out the important in- 

 fluence of the physical form of the sea-coasts 

 upon the process of events, the direction of 

 voyages, the changes in the supremacy of the 

 sea; all assisting to develop and expand our 

 ideas ; he followed the historical traces of the 

 primitive civilization of the Hellenes ; their navi- 

 gation in a north-eastern direction, caused by 

 the expedition of the Argonauts to Colchis ; 

 southward in consequence of the Ophir voyages ; 

 westward through Colaaus of Samos, and his 

 campaigns under Alexander the Great ; all 

 these events opened new roads to civilization, 

 and extensive parts of the earth became by con- 

 quest, and in consequence of the dissemination 



