152 SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



at nine o'clock in the morning at the University, 

 in order to hear the lectures of Professor Boekh 

 on Greek literature and antiquity. Here Hum- 

 boldt took his seat on the fourth or fifth form, 

 below the window, produced from a small map 

 a piece of paper, and noted the leading features 

 of these lectures. He likewise attended the 

 lectures of Carl Eitter on general science ; and 

 not unfrequently it happened that the lecturer 

 quoted him as an authority on geognostic ques- 

 tions. On these occasions the students turned 

 involuntarily towards the venerable hearer, 

 whose presence gave a powerful incentive to 

 their studies. 



A survey of the life of this distinguished man, 

 specially chosen to be an interpreter of nature 

 and her laws, and the results of his intel- 

 lectual activity, we endeavoured to furnish, in 

 general outlines, at the commencement of this 

 essay. We will once more consider the main 

 results of his -life-long investigations. Alexander 

 von Humboldt was in so many branches of 

 science the first who introduced perspicuity 

 and intelligibility, that it is, indeed, difficult to 

 know where to commence. It is due in general 

 to state of Humboldt, that he was the first who 

 regulated and classified isolated scientific facts 

 of the past and the present, and who assigned 



