18 



" Buch von der ISTatur," after those we have in the 

 middle ages by Albertus Magnus. All these, however, 

 are too vague. My title at present is " Kosmos : Out- 

 lines of a description of the physical World, by A. v. 

 H. ; enlarged from Sketches of Lectures delivered by 

 him in 1827 and 1828. Gotta." I wanted to add the 

 word "Kosmos," to force people indeed to call the 

 book so, in order to avoid their speaking of it as H.'s 

 physical description of the earth, and so throwing it 

 into the class of such writers as Mitterpacher.* Weltbe- 

 schreibung (description of the World), a term analogous 

 to Weltgeschichte (history of the World), would, as an 

 unusual word, be confounded with Erdbeschreibung 

 (history of the earth). I know that Kosmos is very 

 grand, and not without a certain tinge of affectation ; 

 but the title contains a striking word, meaning both 

 heaven and earth, and stands in contrast to the "Graa" 

 (that rather indifferent earthy book of Professor Zeune, 

 a true Erdbeschreibung). My brother, too, is for the 

 title " Kosmos ;" I was long in doubt about it. 



Now; my dear friend, for my request ! I cannot make 

 up my mind to send away the beginning of my manu- 

 script without begging you to cast a critical glance over 

 it. You have yourself so great a faculty in respect of 

 grace of style, and are at once so talented and independ- 

 ent, that you will not hastily condemn phrases for being 

 peculiar or differing from your own. Be kind enough 

 to read the Address, and add a sheet, writing on it, 



"I should prefer to ," without giving 



any reasons. Do not, however, find a fault with- 



* Ludwig Mitterpacher, the author of a work entitled " Anfangsgrunde 

 der Physischen Astronomic," Vienna, 1781 (Principles of Celestial Mechanics). 

 TR. 



