HUMBOLDT'S DISTINCTION. 415 



whom all these ol>jects are equally interesting ; and chaptfr 

 therefore it is scarcely be to expected that his travels, ^J^^iVlll. 

 unrivalled as their genius and learning are, will ever be 

 the object of general popularity." 



The fault, it will be seen, is one fully as much of the ciscursire 

 reader as the author. Nevertheless it is such as will treatment of 

 ever in some respects preclude the great mass of readers 

 from studying the discoveries and researches of this dis- 

 tinguished scientific traveller directly from his own 

 works. Like our own Newton, his vast contributions 

 to science may be compared to a treasure of gold, the 

 value of which cannot be augmented, but it may be 

 reduced into a more convenient form of currency. 

 Such is the process which is being applied to the pro- 

 found researches of Alexander Von Humbolt, and already 

 we see his works assuming a popular form, and circulat- 

 ing throughout the various countries of Europe, dissemi- 

 nating knowledge and instigating to further investiga- 

 tion. 



Any formal eulogy on the great and illustrious author Distinction 

 of these Researches would be entirely out of place here, tiior. 

 It has been his fortune to experience what few profound 

 scientific discoverers have done. Surviving to the extreme 

 verge of the usual lot of human life, he has enjoyed in 

 the calm serenity of an honoured old age the full appre- 

 ciation of the labours of a life-time, and has been able to 

 accomplish much, though he has not completed all the 

 gigantic projects of his vast ideal. He thus introduces 

 the comprehensive work, which he has offered as a 

 " Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe," in Physical 

 the preface which he addresses to his own fellow coun- of the uni- 

 trymen : — " In the late evening of an active life I offer ■^^^''*^- 

 to the German public a work, whose undefined image 

 has floated before my mind for almost half a century. 

 I have frequently looked upon its completion as imprac- 

 ticable, but as often as I have been disposed to relinquish 

 the undertaking, I have again — although perhaps im- 

 prudently — resumed the task. This wovk I now present 



