478 THE BULLETINS. 



Then followed the bulletin of his health. 



" May 2. — The fever has somewhat abated since last 

 evening. The catarrh is also less violent. The con- 

 dition of the patient in his very weak state is still very 

 doubtful." 



The bulletins were continued from day to day. 



" May. 3. — Yery great loss of strength; his condition 

 in a high degree doubtful. 



" May 4. — The condition of Humboldt during the 

 night of Monday-Tuesday, was exceedingly critical, 

 through the violent fits of coughing and diificulty of 

 breathing. Towards noon of Tuesday the patient was 

 much improved in various respects, but the continued loss 

 of strength renders his position to a high degree critical. 



" Mayo. — Humboldt's condition since yesterday almost 

 unchanged. Weakness increasing. 



" May 6. — (Friday morning) — The strength of the 

 patient is decreasing from hour to hour." 



The last hours of the dying man were soothed by the 

 presence of his relatives, who flocked to his residence as 

 soon as they heard of his illness. First came from 

 Tegel the Baroness Von Billow, — once his merry little 

 niece Gabriele, but now a placid widow of fifty-seven ; 

 then the husband of his niece Adelheid, General Von 

 Iledemann ; and then, from Ottmachan, his nephew Her- 

 mann, and his grandnephew William, the son of " the 

 amiable Theodore," of whom Frau Caroline wrote more 

 than sixty years before. 



Shall we describe the chamber of the dying man — ■ 

 the darkened walls touched with the sunlight that creeps 

 through the half-closed blinds — the group of sorrowing 

 friends around his bed — his reverend white hair, his 



