156 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ous visits, notes, and letters, as well as to days and nights of con- 

 tinuous observations of magnetic terms ; and, finally, a grace in inter- 

 course that disarmed all contradiction — all of these things together 

 made him a real power ; and how frequently did he use his power for 

 the good of this university ! 



At that time, when the limited means of the state made it harder 

 to raise a couple of hundred thalers for scientific purposes than as 

 many thousand marks now, no emergency arose for which Humboldt 

 did not obtain the needed means by his personal intercession ; and as 

 now the Academy of Sciences will on satisfactory assurances advance 

 money to young men engaged in merely prospective scientific enter- 

 prises, so was Humboldt then the earthly providence of all students. 

 What matter is it that his zeal was sometimes mistaken, and that 

 among the number of those to whom he opened the way was now and 

 then one who came short of fulfilling the hopes set upon him ? Even 

 academicians are not infallible in the choice of Ihevc proteges. If he 

 had a preference for travelers, for his own specialty, did he not also 

 let his sun shine on philologists as well as on naturalists ? Who would 

 examine as with a psychological lens the secret motives that impelled 

 him to such touching sacrifices for things quite remote from him ? 

 Of course, Humboldt had the faults of his virtues. Ambition is the 

 source of all greatness, but it is hard to draw the line that separates it 

 from vanity. Humboldt used his sharp tongue and pen not only as 

 weapons of defense, but he frequently gave them freer license than 

 was perhaps good. But what signifies the dread that some felt of his 

 criticisms, in the face of such testimony as that of August Boeckh, 

 that he never came away from Humboldt's presence without feeling 

 exalted and inspired with new love for all that is good and noble ? 

 There is one other example of a personality which, like Humboldt's, 

 reached such power by pure intellectual force that peoples on both 

 sides of the great sea waited for his words, and kings listened to him : 

 this was Voltaire, in the eighteenth century. The two men, notwith- 

 standing the deep-reaching differences between them, afford many 

 points of resemblance. Both were born in a capital — Voltaire in Paris, 

 Humboldt in Berlin; Voltaire reaching out of the " grand century " into 

 a new period which he had helped to introduce ; Humboldt from the 

 classical period of our literature to a new scientific period that had been 

 partly prepared for by him ; in both a poet was paired with a natural- 

 ist, but the poet predominating in Voltaire, the naturalist in Humboldt ; 

 both disappearing from the scene for a period in youth, Voltaire to 

 return after his study-travel to England, Humboldt from his tropical 

 journey, with great acquisitions ; Voltaire afterward in Berlin, Hum- 

 boldt, at least in his later abode in Paris, living near the throne ; both 

 occasionally intrusted with diplomatic business ; both animated to the 

 noblest exertions, but not above a well-directed jest ; both regarding 

 mankind as their family, without a domestic hearth ; Voltaire power- 



