8o Humboldt's Letters. 



placed myself at his disposal, with a reservation, however, 

 prescribed by my ignorance of archaeology. To my igno- 

 rance upon this point must be added my ignorance upon 

 another I mean the duties of the Presidency. I desire 

 to state, at all events, what I think of the relations of a 

 single member with any scientific association. There 

 are three sorts of men some are true savans ; the num- 

 ber of these is small : others are friends of science in 

 general, or of some branch of it ; these are more nume- 

 rous : the third class the largest of all comprises the 

 narrow-minded, the barren hi spirit, the " viveurs," to 

 whom, though often they are very good fellows, art and 

 science are quite superfluous. I enrol myself in the 

 second of these classes. My brethren and I can be of 

 some service to mental cultivation, provided we do not 

 meddle too much with details. When I feel that I can 

 do a good work, I consider it my duty to devote myself 

 to it. In the present case, however, I can only throw 

 my good will into the scale. 



My confession of faith is set forth in the explanations 

 given to the August Protector ; and to what I took the 

 liberty of stating to him, I also talLe the liberty of refer- 

 ring you. 



It is so long, my dear Baron, since you paid us a 

 visit, that when you feel inclined to judge for yourself, 

 you will be more than gratified by the real progress 

 we have made in the departments of which you are the 



