TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 169 



the numerous discoveries made in geography, natural history, and the physical 

 sciences during the twentj^-six years elapsed since its publication. But, what is 

 still more interesting, he gives in this letter a sketch of the principal additions and 

 corrections his work is to receive, and among which the following desiderata play 

 the chief part : — a new delineation of the moimtainous ranges of Central Asia in 

 conformity with the numerous and important materials acquired since the year 

 1843, particularly in reference to the Thian-chan and to the orography of the vast 

 and complicated" Himalayan regions ; fmther, a summaiy of the residts of the 

 recent explorations of the Lac Ai-al and the Caspian Sea, of the hydrographical 

 system of the Jaxartes and the Oxus, of the northern extremities of the Oural 

 Mountains, &c. ; finally, a complete official account of the annual produce of the 

 amiferous deposits in Russia since the year 1854 until the present day, and a 

 survey of all the meteorological and magnetic observations collected during this 

 time in the Caucasian regions, in Siberia, and in the Turkestan. It is evident that 

 the additions and modifications by which Baron von Humboldt intended to com- 

 plete, emich, and adorn his celebrated work coidd not have been carried out with- 

 out the assistance of many fellow-labourers, however great may have been the 

 imiversal knowledge of this extraordinaiy man. No doubt, we must regi-et that 

 death prevented him from accomplishing a task which he seems to have considered 

 as the last and most brilliant crown of his long and laborious life ; but whatever may 

 have been the araoimt of additional gloiy it could have given him, all his disciples, 

 friends, and admirers are bound to consider the expression of his last and most 

 cherished wishes as a kind of sacred legacy imposed upon them ; and this was 

 precisely the feeling which decided me to yield to the sippeal M. Guerin addressed 

 to me, in order to work out a new edition of the ' Asie centrale ' according to the 

 instructions left by its illustrious author. In spite of the various occupations which 

 absorb all my time, particularly at the present moment, when I am preparing 

 myself for a new expedition in the East, I have decided to perform this rather 

 difficult task to the best of my abilities, and I hope that in the coLU-se of the next 

 winter the three volumes of the ' Asie centrale ' will be published, accompanied by 

 a fourth supplementary one, which will contain all the important additions and 

 modifications desired by the author, and, moreover, a new map of Central Asia, 

 quite difterent from that which appeared in 1843, at the end of the third volume 

 of the work. 



Now, before I conclude this little bibliographical information, which I hope will 

 be received with interest by many persons who compose this distinguished assembly, 

 let me add that, independently of the great name of Humboldt, a special work on 

 Central Asia has, now-a-days, a peculiar importance and a striking opportuneness, 

 for it will at last dispel for ever the threatening clouds which, during so many years, 

 were gathering on those regions, as gloomy forebodings of a dreadful tempest. The 

 truth is, that as long as our knowledge oi Central Asia was scanty and vague, this 

 mysterious country must have appeared, not only to the ignorant crowd, but also 

 to many of the most enlightened and sagacious statesmen, as the natural battle-field 

 where, sooner or later, England and Russia had to meet in an exterminating, 

 dogged struggle. The danger seemed so unavoidable and so urgent that no expense 

 no sacrifice was spared in order to postpone this disastrous crisis. Now, thanks to 

 the indefatigable exertions of men like Montgomerj', Walker, Johnson, Godwin- 

 Austen, Schlagintweit, Sewerzow, Semenow, Baron Osten-Saken, Poltarazki, Struve, 

 and many other recent explorers, whose important labom-s will be thoroughly 

 discussed in the supplementary volume of Humboldt's ' Asie centrale,' the ominous 

 crisis so positively prophecied, and so unanimously feared, turns out to be nothing 

 more than a fantastical dream ; for surely nothing could be more fantastic, nothino- 

 fitter to remind us of the stories of the thousand-and-one nights, than to see a 

 large army with heavy artillery, not only hover like ghosts during two or three 

 months amidst dense clouds and eternal snows, but even, after such laborious gj^m- 

 nastics, descend in the coimtryof the enemy and defeat the English troop.s, who would 

 be quietly and comfortably expecting the cmious visitors. Well, that is precisely the 

 marvellous fact which must be admitted by the advocates of a Russian invasion of 

 India ; for we possess now numerous trustworthy docxmients which prove most po- 

 sitively that, even in the very probable case when whole Turkestan is to become a 



