i873«] Notices of Books. 401 



latter actually spoke of it as a " calamite sociale." As a boy 

 Humboldt showed a great desire to travel in distant lands, and 

 books of travel were among his favourite literature. In 1787 he 

 matriculated at the University of Frankfort-on-the-Oder. The 

 scientific world was at this time commencing the period of tran- 

 sition which had originated in the great discoveries of Lavoisier, 

 Scheele, Priestley, Cavendish, and others. A good deal of false 

 science was readily received by the Academies : thus Semler 

 communicated to the Berlin Academy a means of producing 

 gold, by keeping a certain volatile salt in a warm and moist 

 condition for a sufficient length of time. Silberschlag had 

 recently delivered lectures on the sun before the Academy, in 

 which he asserted that — " The sun is really a kitchen-fire, and 

 the spots are clouds of smoke and great heaps of soot ; conse- 

 quently where there is a kitchen-fire there must be meat to roast, 

 such as godless people, — Deists, Universalists, and Atheists, — 

 and the devil is the cook who turns the spit." Many of Hum- 

 boldt's earlier ideas on Physical Science were obtained by 

 attending the lectures of Marcus Herz, a Jewish physician, and 

 ardent disciple of Kant, who commenced the lectures in his 80th 

 year. Humboldt appears to have been very industrious while at 

 Frankfort. In 1789 he went to the University of Gottingen, 

 staying by the way at Helmstadt, to see Prof. Beireis and his 

 wonderful museum. He gives a curious account of the Pro- 

 fessor : — "At home he is always engaged in prosecuting disco- 

 veries, and just now, as Crell assures me, he spends sixteen 

 hours a-day in reading on various subjects. Besides the Euro- 

 pean languages, he speaks Egyptian, Chinese, Japanese, as well 

 as some of the dialects of Northern India, and he read out to 

 me with facility, in German, some passages from a Japanese 

 book, yet many people venture to doubt whether he knows 

 Hebrew ! He is, in short, a most extraordinary man, who, with 

 the most profound knowledge of Chemistry and Numismatics, 

 combines the charlatanry of the most cunning juggler. . . . 

 He tells me that he can make corn to grow, that he knows of a 

 tree that bears truffles, that he lives without sleep, and in con- 

 versation says every minute that ' he has thought upon that 

 subject for six weeks together without eating or drinking.' " 



At this time the University of Gottingen was a celebrated 

 centre of Science, and after Science it was renowned for its 

 teaching of Philology and of Political Economy. Many Germans 

 studied there, and the University has had considerable influence on 

 the development of German thought. The students numbered 

 8t2, 405 of whom studied jurisprudence, 210 theology, 104 

 medicine, and 93 philosophy. Among the students there were 

 two English princes, the Counts de Broglie and St. Simon, and 

 Count Metternich. Humboldt remained only a year at Gottin- 

 gen, leaving it in March, 1790. In after life he acknowledged 

 that he owed to the University the best part of his education. 



