ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. HI 



know their own tastes and capacities ! At nineteen 

 he had never heard of botany, and yet he became 

 one of the most distinguished of botanists ! 



The boy also longed to go to sea, not an unusual 

 desire in restless and ambitious natures. But he 

 was frail in body, and gave little evidence that he 

 would ever be able to accomplish any of the things 

 for vvhich he longed. 



At nineteen he was ready for college, and with 

 his brother entered at Frankfort-on-the-Oder. He 

 gave his time largely to finance and political econ- 

 omy, by his mother's desire, that he might be able 

 to act in some capacity under the government- 



At college, as ever after in life, he had one de- 

 voted friend, who became his inseparable compan- 

 ion. At Frankfort, it was Wegener, a young 

 theologian, with a warm heart, and great zeal for 

 knowledge. Nor did this friendship cease when 

 he went to Gottingen some months later, for better 

 opportunities in the study of science. He wrote to 

 Wegener: "If God only spare us, nothing can 

 break the bond between two friends who are to each 

 other more than brothers. . . . My fervent love and 

 sincere friendship for you are as imperishable as 

 the soul which gives them birth. . . . How happy, 

 how inexpressibly happy should I be, if I had a 

 friend like you by my side ! . . . I doubt not that 

 among eight hundred men there must be some with 

 whom I could form a friendship, but how long is it 

 often before we find each other out ! Were not you 

 and I acquainted for three months before we dis- 



