ON THE MOKPHOLOGICAL VIEW OF NATURE. 225 



agencies of nature, — of water, atmosphere, and of ice 

 and heat. J^st came the study of the fossil remains 

 of organic life as the means of fixing the age and the 

 order of succession of various geological formations. 

 Werner^ in Germany, Cuvier" in France, Hutton ^ in 

 Scotland, William Smith * in England, led the way, from 

 different points of view, towards an actual knowledge and 

 a possible theory of the existing forms and structures in 

 and on the crust of our globe. The study of these 

 subjects, morphology on the largest scale, necessitated 

 distant travels, the examination of formations in situ 

 and under diametrically opposite conditions. Its great- 

 est and unequalled representative was Alexander von 

 Humboldt,^ who also brought the observations of 23 



' <-' Huinbolat. 



geographical, geological, and mineralogical facts and 

 details into connection with the study of climate, of the 

 weather, of the distribution of plants and animals." 



^ See supra, vol. i. p. 283. 

 - Ibid., p. 125. 



3 Ibid., p. 283. 



4 Ibid., p. 291. 



^ A good account of the grad- 

 ual development of the plan of 

 " Cosmos " will be found in 

 Bruhus's ' Life of A. von Hum- 

 boldt ' (transl. by Lassell, 1873), 

 vol. ii. , pas»irii. It is clear that 

 two great intiuences co - operated 

 to ripen in Humboldt's mind the 

 conception of unrolling a great 

 tableau of the phj'sical world in its 

 purely material and in its ideal or 

 jioetical aspects : the influence of 

 the great scientific movement then 

 emanating from Paris, and the 

 not less important influence of 

 the ideal movement rejiresented 

 by the names of Herder, Goethe, 

 and Schelling, which emanated 

 from the centre of Germany. 



VOL. II. 



"But, however gi-eatly Humboldt 

 may be indebted to the inspiring 

 influence of his contemj)oraries, the 

 great merit of the work lies in 

 what he alone has accomplished — 

 the attempt by means of a com- 

 prehensive collation of details, and 

 the institution of the most search- 

 ing comparisons, to give a scientitic 

 foundation to the ideal cosmology 

 of Herder, (Joethe, Schelling, and 

 their disciples ... In him may 

 be said to be united the two 

 schools of philosophy, so brilliantly 

 represented during the closing years 

 of the former centurj'. On this 

 iiccount he was at the same time 

 exposed to the censure of the 

 representatives of either system " 

 (vol. ii. p. 312). 



® The third volume of the ' Life 

 of Humboldt,' in the original 

 German edition, gives an account 



