OF BAEON HUMBOLDT. 195 



powers of his master-mind to the one great 

 object, to explore the whole physical Cosmos, in 

 order to make his discoveries serviceable to 

 mankind. In pursuit of this great object, he 

 not only sacrificed the ordinary enjoyments of 

 life, but he jeopardized his health and his life, 

 renounced the possible acquisition of material 

 wealth, and the happiness of family life. The 

 unconditional devotion to his great object, and 

 the cheerful sacrifice of everything in further- 

 ance of it, this is Humboldt's moral worth; and 

 in this devotion he is so great that but few of 

 the children of men can approach him. This 

 noble self-sacrifice is true morality, and such 

 morality is at the same time piety ; for the 

 devotion to a great moral thought is indeed a 

 devotion to a thought of God. The self-denying 

 devotion of Alexander von Humboldt in order 

 to comprehend nature and her laws ; to realize 

 its being and its truth, must have shown him, 

 in the creature, the Creator. He was in his 

 devotion to the Universe at the same time a 

 devoted servant of the Spirit of the Universe ; 

 and he may doubt this who tears God and the 

 world mechanically asunder. His wonderful 

 activity, his rare achievements, have exercised 

 upon the present generation such a powerful 

 influence, that thousands of his contemporaries 



o2 



