BOOKS WRITTEN AT BERLIN. 317 



portions of his travels, in the form of essays and treatises, 

 which he read before the Academy of Berlin. Two of 

 these papers, one on Steppes and Deserts, and another 

 on the Cataracts of the Orinoco were included in his 

 "Aspects of Nature." Upon this book, which was the 

 first, not purely scientific, that he wrote after his return to 

 Europe, he was now busily engaged. Not having made 

 up his mind as to the exact form in which he would cast 

 his journey, he selected some of its most striking inci- 

 dents and phenomena, and interwove them in a series of 

 papers, which he called "Aspects of Nature." 



The "Aspects of Nature" is one of the few books 

 that he wrote in his native language, and for that reason 

 perhaps it was always a favorite with him. When he 

 wrote for the scholars of Europe he wrote in French or 

 Latin, but when he wished to reach the hearts of his 

 countrymen he wrote in German. It was not published 

 until 1808, when he had left Berlin for Paris. It was 

 dedicated to his brother William, who acknowledged the 

 compliment in one of his finest poems. Humboldt's 

 literary life in Berlin may be summed up in the writing 

 of the " Aspects of Nature," and in the writing and 

 publishing of four smaller works, " Ideas on a Geography 

 of Plants," " A Picture of the Natural Productions of 

 the Tropics," a "Tableau of the Equinoctial Eegions," 

 and a treatise on " Electric Fish." 



In the autumn of 1807 Humboldt removed to Paris, in 

 order to be near his beloved collections, and to commence 

 his long-delayed work. He had come to the conclusion 

 that it could not be done properly, or at any rate as he 

 wished to have it done, by one man in the course of a 

 life-time, so he divided the material among the savans of 



