180 SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



if possible, more dear to his heart; viz., to 

 bring his extensive and well-arranged Herba- 

 rium to Paris. To unite his collections and 

 MSS. with those of his fellow-labourer Hum- 

 boldt, was the ardent desire of his heart, and 

 expressed by him on various occasions. He 

 wished to see his native land once more, before 

 his final departure, once more to behold the 

 Jardin des Plantes, and, above all, once more 

 to embrace his beloved and revered friend 

 Humboldt. 



In his unceasing activity to further agricul- 

 ture and industry in the Argentine States, 

 and for which he sacrificed many a night's rest, 

 death overtook him, on the 4th of May, 1858. 



From the manner in which Humboldt received 

 the news .of his friend's demise, it has been sup- 

 posed that he had a kind of presentiment that 

 their re-union in another world would not be 

 long delayed. 



One more glance upon the long and eventful 

 career of Alexander von Humboldt, ere we 

 follow the great explorer to his final resting- 

 place. In his continued intercourse with those 

 powers, which are for ever engaged in the 

 process of dissolution, he had himself become 

 infirm. 



How beautiful is the picture of his original 



