DEATH OF HIS MOTHER. 23 



botany, studying to great advantage an excellent collec- 

 tion of exotic plants which he found there, and enjoying 

 the society of the geologist Freiesleben. He also studied 

 galvanism, and made a variety of interesting experi- 

 ments. He planned an excursion into Switzerland with 

 Freiesleben, but postponed it to make an Italian journey. 

 The war, which was then raging, confined him to Upper 

 Italy, so that he was obliged to return without visiting 

 the volcanic regions of Naples and Sicily. 



Shortly before leaving Bayreuth he had received a 

 letter from his brother William, who, having finished his 

 role as a lover, had now assumed that of a husband, 

 telling him that the health of their mother was failing. 

 She is ill at Tegel, the letter ran — (it was dated in June, 

 1795) — but we, William and Caroline, will remain with 

 her until the spring. On his return from Italy another 

 letter reached him — one of those mournful letters which 

 every man sooner or later receives. It bore the escut- 

 cheon of death — a black seal. There was a new grave 

 at Tegel. His mother was dead. 



In the beginning of the year 1797 he went to Jena, 

 where his brother William was then residing. Here he 

 found Freiesleben and Goethe. Goethe was so much 

 interested in his studies in anatomy that he devoted the 

 rest of his stay in Jena to that science. On his return to 

 Weimar he wrote to Schiller : "I have spent the time 

 with Humboldt agreeably and usefully : my natural his- 

 tory studies have been roused from their winter sleep by 

 his presence." And Schiller wrote back shortly after: 

 " Although the whole family of Humboldt, down to the 

 servant, lie ill with ague, they still speak only of great 

 journeys." 



