1O2 Humboldt's Letters. 



The granite blocks on the rocks are the convulsions of 

 nature. 



It is well known that the forests are the hair of the 

 earth-animal. The swelling equatorial region is the 

 belly of Nature. 



America is a female figure, long, slender, watery and 

 freezing at 48. The degrees of latitude are the years 

 woman gets old at, 48 years. The East is oxygen, the 

 West hydrogen; it rains when clouds from the East 

 are mixed with clouds from the West. Schelling. 



Petrifactions in rocks are not the remains of former 

 living beings. They are the first attempts of nature at 

 making animals and plants. In Siberia some dogs lived 

 for years on such an experiment a stinking elephant at 

 the mouth of the Lena. 



These are the Saturnalia ! Cast your eye particularly 

 on the notes, en masse, of which I inclose a few. P. 40 

 49; p. 55-57. 



I wish to give to the work the greatest generality 

 and breadth of views, a lively and, if possible, grace- 

 ful style, and to replace all technical terms with well- 

 chosen, graphic, and descriptive language. 



Correct freely, my friend ; I gladly follow where I can. 

 Some not very common erudition I intend to banish to the 

 notes. This book should be the reflex of my own self, 

 of my life, of my own very old person. This freedom of 

 treatment enables me to proceed more aphoristically. 



