166 SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



merit of nature, not merely in its great fea- 

 tures, but in the attraction and the interest 

 which the special character of a region may 

 afford. He remarked that such impressions 

 are more vivid, more positive, and especially 

 suited for certain conditions of the heart. We 

 may perhaps at one time notice the fierce con- 

 test of the elements,* or be attracted by the 

 sight of the apparently immobile and sterile, or 

 again witness the immense expanse of prairies 

 and deserts, and in turn regard the more cheer- 

 ful picture of a cultivated country. 



It has been said that an investigation of the 

 constitution of nature and of her internal powers 

 divests her of the charms of the mysterious, 

 and the character of the sublime. If in that 

 case the power of our imagination is circum- 

 scribed and the charm of immensity of necessity 

 contracted ; if an erring philosopher even sup- 

 posed "that the ignorance of natural pheno- 

 mena " was the main- spring of sublimity and 

 beauty, there is no doubt that an intelligent 

 insight into the absolute relation of all pheno- 

 mena, if acquired and exercised in the spirit 

 of Humboldt, will conduct us to the highest 

 possible step worthy of thinking man. It will 



* See Jarre's "Scenes in the Sandwich Islands; the 

 Ocean and a Volcano in strife." 



