Prof. Cotta’s Eulogy on Von Buch. 9 
having witnessed it without being near A prize it — enough. 
He was accustomed to say at such a time, ‘ He must be helped,” 
and he was helped, by an unseen hatte emery 
Perhaps it may be said by one or another, that it were quite 
easy for a man so independently cireumstanced as he, to devote 
himself exclusively to science, and with so many means to have 
accomplished great results. With such, however, I cannot agree. 
y' wey 
that would have led to a pleasant, yes, even a brilliant life. 
Hundreds, I fear, who, struggling with necessity, have earned 
for themselves a name in science, ‘would, i in L. v. Buch’s cireum- 
stances, have chosen a path in ‘life leading more directly and 
easily to commanding influence 
The spur of necessity is with many not a small one. But fora 
man of fortune without such extreme urging, to devote his whole 
life voluntarily to earnest, pure ep Rp eT and only for that 
end, there is something in it, as it appears to me, of the great, 
something of the uncommon; for it is one thing to cultivate a 
branch of science incidentally, for pastime or amusement, or to 
acquire a certain credit for erudition, and quite another to resign 
oneself entirely and undividedly to 
ith such zeal for scientific advancement he also knew well 
how to draw forth youthful talent wherever he found it, to cap- 
tivate it, lead it into a fitting path, support it by counsel or assist- 
ance, and with such delicacy of feeling and manner, that it itself 
scarcely perceived how much it was indebted to its patron. 
He never accepted a public office, but bore occasionally on fes- 
tive occasions the key of a « Kammerherr” and many a high order 
of merit. 
may also not pass by without mentioning the uncommonly 
varied character of von Buch’s attainments, and the retentiveness 
of his memory even for trifles; it was his custom to note in his 
small day-book, often embracing the wanderings of many years, 
only brief remarks in a microscopic hand. Perfectly at home in 
five or six languages, he was also deeply read in history and litera- 
ture. Even trivial family circumstances and town occurrences 
his memory retained in all their details, and he knew how to 
rehearse them in the most felicitons manner. His conversation 
Was on that account not less spirited than fascinating, and he 
could, when he was in the right humor, enliven even the gayest 
maloon. in the highest degree. 
w, however, one word as to his death. On Saturday the 
26th February, he was till late at. the Humanitatsgesellschaft—a 
conversational meeting of literati of Berlin. Professors Poggen- 
dorf and Braun accom panied him thence to his dwelling. At the 
door he bade them adieu with some jokes as usual. Upon retiring 
to rest he felt himself slightly indisposed. The = aoe = 
Szconp Series, Vol. XVII, No. 49,—Jan. 1954. 
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