198 

 CXLIII. 



HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN. 



Potsdam, 2nd July, 1850. 



I am delighted, my dear friend, at receiving from 

 your hand, in this gloomy reactionary time, so pleasant 

 a token of remembrance. I am delighted, too, with 

 your trip to Kiel' to that small district where German 

 spirit speaks out, consistently and freely. The present 

 state of the world may he compared to the water-bottle 

 which D'Alembert shook, so as to give rise to an irre- 

 gular configuration of bubbles. He then, in derision 

 of hydrostatic knowledge, in which he was himself 

 nevertheless so great, called out, " Calculez moi cela /" 

 Many of the bubbles will burst before diplomacy has 

 been able to calculate their transitory form. 



I shall express to M. de Froloff my warmest thanks. 

 I tried in vain to dissuade him from having the work 

 interspersed with a mass of explanatory notes and illus- 

 trations, which were meant to make it more easy of 

 comprehension. He aimed at what was simply impos- 

 sible, and seemed to understand little about the form 

 of composition. I shall not tell him anything of all 

 this. Hybridizing never succeeds in literature. 



I have been very unwell, indeed confined to my 

 bed ; now, however, in spite of the distractions of life, 

 I am well, diligent, and dull. 



Your old friend, 



A. v. HUMBOLDT. 



