OF BARON HUMBOLDT. 51 



of tliis work is incomplete. In the collection of 

 his material, he carefully used all former tradi- 

 tion and the resources of the older literature. 

 Not only in a scientific, but also in an historical 

 point of view, this work is of considerable im- 

 portance, and was held in high esteem during 

 the Middle Ages. The first Roman to whom 

 the honour is due of having collected the 

 accounts of all previous travellers, and whose 

 work is distinguished not only by an acquaint- 

 ance with the subject in question, but by 

 superiority of style, was Pomponius Mela, 48 

 A.D., a native of Spain. The older Pliny, 2379 

 A.D., devoted in his Natural Philosophy a con- 

 siderable part four volumes to geography, 

 and furnishes some very interesting notes, cha- 

 racteristic of the Roman, regarding the west 

 and the north of Europe, and of India. 



In the introduction of Christianity, Humboldt 

 recognizes the cause of the gradually developed 

 conviction of the oneness of human kind, the 

 important source of humanity, the humanizing 

 of peoples in their manners and organizations. 

 Having regard, with reference to the develop- 

 ment of a more perfect knowledge of the unity 

 of nature, to the four principal events : 1. The 

 attempts to proceed from the basin of the Medi- 

 terranean eastward to Pontus and Phasis, 



E2 



