Some Eminent Men 43 



boldt? Probably not. In his life-time, Humboldt 

 was recognized as an authority on every known 

 science, and he was the last man to be so rec- 

 ognized. At the present time, the sciences are 

 too numerous and comprehensive for even the 

 mind of a Humboldt. 



In the field of science it is doubtful if it is pos- 

 sible to name any persons superior to Cuvier or 

 Humboldt, and it is doubtful if anyone can say 

 either of these men was superior to the other. 

 But as a military chieftain and conqueror, com- 

 pare Napoleon with Genghis Khan, who lived six 

 hundred years earlier, and Napoleon shrinks to 

 small potatoes. Napoleon tried literature but was 

 unable to produce anything of value in that line. 

 As a chess player he was inferior to several of his 

 generals. He was a brilliant commander of 

 small armies, but that is practically all. There is 

 nothing to indicate that he was a master in hand- 

 ling armies of more than one hundred thousand. 

 There is every reason to think that he would be 

 wholly incompetent to handle such vast armies 

 as those recently fighting in Europe. 



The pedigree of Napoleon stops with his par- 

 ents. We have no information about either set 



