82 SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



sight into Nature's laws. He recognised intui- 

 tively the true object of the naturalist, and the 

 importance of special observations. The ground 

 which we traverse in joy and in sorrow is sub- 

 ject to constant and unceasing changes, and 

 displays in its evolution a marvellous activity 

 in the process of destruction and reproduction ; 

 it is possessed of a power which regulates and 

 shapes the chaotic rivets the planet to its sun 

 infuses into the cold and lifeless mass the 

 animating breath of heat, and shatters the 

 apparent complete and perfect, and places new 

 and different forms upon the ruins of the 

 former. "What power is this ? How does it 

 create and destroy ? 



These were the next and most important 

 problems which forced themselves on Hum- 

 boldt's attention, and to the scientific solution 

 of which he had devoted his life. " What is a 

 day of creation?" he exclaimed; "will a turn 

 of the earth round its own axis suffice ? or 

 is it the result of a series of millenniums ? 

 Did the solid earth first rise above the waters, 

 or did they recede to the interior of the 

 earth ? Was it the force of water or of 

 fire which caused the elevation of the moun- 

 tains, levelled the plains, and marked the limits 

 of the sea and the land ? What are vol- 



