54 SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



which science, perhaps, made in no period more 

 important progress. He opened new avenues 

 in this branch of science, in consequence of his 

 scientific discovery of America. He likewise 

 accelerated its progress, in animating and en- 

 couraging other able men to investigate this 

 special department. It is, indeed, impossible 

 to estimate the influence Baron Humboldt 

 wielded, in advancing, not only directly but 

 indirectly, the cause of science. His own 

 researches in this department made him more 

 intimately acquainted with the geography of 

 America, and with the history of nautical 

 astronomy in the fifteenth and sixteenth centu- 

 ries. The fifteenth century, in consequence of 

 the discovery of a new world, became, so to 

 speak, the multiplier of the works of creation ; 

 and brought within the scope of the old world 

 a great multitude of new objects, which neces- 

 sarily caused pen a pen a change in the condition 

 and the ideas of Europe. This period had for 

 Baron Humboldt a special interest ; for, with 

 the discovery of America, mankind had made 

 a most important step in the advancement of 

 intellectual and material progress ; new roads 

 of intercourse and a more comprehensive view 

 into a new nature were thereby opened. Per- 

 haps no one was better qualified to estimate 



