OF BARON HUMBOLDT. 153 



to everything its proper place, in order to 

 establish the necessary harmony of the whole. 

 His critical insight assigned to the apparent 

 lawless a fixed law; the isolated found its kindred 

 groups. He thus revealed and laid open the 

 united life and activity of our planet in its 

 actual being. He became, as testified by his 

 life, the founder of a comparative cosmography, 

 the originator of the science of geognosy, and 

 indicated, with his friend Leopold von Buch, 

 the volcanic activity which influences the forma- 

 tion of our earth. He was the founder of the 

 geography of plants, an entirely new science, 

 regarding the laws of their distribution. He dis- 

 covered a new world, with new forms, new life, 

 manners, languages, and the remains of an 

 unknown antiquity. He likewise was the re- 

 former of geographical maps ; and, lastly, the 

 originator and the representative of a new 

 method in the investigation of general science, 

 which is daily becoming more developed. He 

 endeavoured to realize a more universal stand- 

 point, tracing continually the mutual connection 

 of the divers branches of science, watching 

 nature in her secret laboratory, searching for 

 new facts, and discarding all kinds of specula- 

 tions. The internal complication of cause and 

 effect, isolated, and in its relation to the whole, 



