Humboldt's Letters. 61 



which at the same time express wrath and fear, confirm 

 the view. Leist of Stade with his report, which lasted 

 five hours, has lately done harm by his flattery. 

 Yours, 



A.HT. 



Stieglitz, Wilhelm's oldest friend, and who once saved 

 his life in the Leine river (my brother cried out to him, 

 with unexampled stoicism ; " I die, but it does not 

 matter,") was to me a serious apparition of a ghost. 

 The effect of his spirit upon me is uncomfortable. 



HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN. 



SUNDAY, October 22d, 1837. 



Six o'clock, A. M . 



I -FIND after a week's residence in Potsdam, which 

 has very much discouraged me, your amiable souvenir. 

 Receive, revered friend, this very evening, my warmest 

 thanks; you have praised me for my most cherished 

 aim, which is, that I may not become a fossil, as long 

 as I move, and cling to the belief, " that nature has put 

 her curse upon stagnancy and inertia." Youth is the 



