108 ALEXANDER VON IIUMLOLDT. 



and what incited him to stand among the few 

 intellectual leaders of the world. 



Frederick William Henry Alexander von Hum- 

 boldt was born September 14, 1769, in Berlin, the 

 same year as Baron Cuvier. Unlike Cuvier, he 

 came into a home of wealth and culture. His father 

 was a Prussian officer and chamberlain to the king. 

 His mother, the widow of Baron von Hollwede, 

 married Major von Humboldt when he was forty- 

 six years old, bringing into the family much landed 

 property. Three children were born to them^ a 

 daughter who died in infancy, and the famous 

 brothers, William and Alexander, the former two 

 years older than the latter. 



The father, an exceedingly amiable and benevo- 

 lent man, died when Alexander was but ten years 

 old. The mother, left with her two sons, was wise 

 enough to select superior tutors for them, deeming 

 a good education their best preparation for a useful 

 life. 



Much of their time was spent at their summer 

 home at Tegel, on the banks of the Havel, about eight 

 miles from Berlin. In 1778 Goethe went there for 

 a visit, and the two Humboldt lads, nine and eleven 

 years of age, played and talked with the leading 

 mind of Germany. 



The children were not altogether happy there, as 

 Alexander wrote a friend years afterward. " Vine- 

 clad hills which here we call mountains, extensive 

 plantations of foreign trees, the meadows surround- 

 ing the house, and lovely views of the lake with its 



