Mea 
Alexander von Humboldt. 5 
' eleven, he heard at Tegel private lectures on tere by Heim. 
_ Two years later Kunth used to take the boys to Berlin to pursue 
their studies with private masters. They studied together, but 
law, politics, philosophy, mathematics, and the physical sciences. 
unth too heard all these lectures, and a little boy of nine, 
four years younger than Alexander, heard some of them, 
‘ aepold von Buch his name. ; 
‘Thus they passed two years partly at the capitol and pa 
at Tegel, satis under the watchful care of Kunth, and 
the University at Frankfort on the Oder, where they resided 
two years or more, in the family of their Greek professor Léffler, 
who had removed thither from Berlin. At Easter, 1788, having 
exhausted the resources of Frankfort and groun or a 
igher course, Kunth accompanied the brothers to Gottingen, at 
that time the most celebrated University of eee" & Here 
Alexander at the age of eighteen found ample scope for all his 
aspirations in nature and natural science, and both brothers had 
more ample opportunities afforded them to follow out the diverse 
branches of research to which each felt a strong innate ten- 
ency. 
The University of Géttingen was then at its zenith, with the 
best selected library of modern books in Europe. Here they 
met and cemented lasting friendships with those world-renowned 
terms of intimacy. Alexander soon became the favorite pupil 
of the great naturalist Blumenbach, and was proud to call him- 
self the scholar of Gmelin. 
But it was to George Forster that Alexander never ceased to 
acknowledge his indebtedness. Forster was then only thirty- 
