ADVICE FROM HUMBOLDT, 271 



eign lands, the means you destine for the 

 engraving and printing will soon be absorbed. 

 You will struggle with domestic difficulties, 

 and at sixty years of age (tremble at the 

 sight of this number ! ) you will be as un- 

 certain as you are to-day, whether you pos- 

 sess, even in your collection of drawings, all 

 that is to be found among amateurs. How 

 exhaust an ocean in which the species are 

 indefinitely increasing ? Finish, first, what 

 you have this December, 1837, and then, if 

 the subject does not weary you, pubHsh the 

 supplements in 1847. You must not forget 

 that these supplements will be of two kinds : 

 1st. Ideas which modify some of your old 

 views. 2d. New species. Only the first kind 

 of supplement would be really desirable. Fur- 

 thermore, you must regain your intellectual 

 independence and not let yourself be scolded 

 any more by M. de Humboldt. Little will 

 it avail you should I vanish from the scene 

 of this world with your fourteenth number ! 

 When I am a fossil in my turn I shall still ap- 

 pear to you as a ghost, having under my arm 

 the pages you have failed to interpolate and 

 the volume of that eternal America which I 

 owe to the public. I close with a touch of fun, 

 in order that my letter may seem a little less 



