i873-l Notices of Books. 403 



industrious ; he frequently read papers before the Institute, and 

 published a number of valuable treatises on various subjects. 

 The remainder of his life, which is regarded as the most 

 important period of it, from 1827 to 1859, was passed in 

 Berlin. 



The change of residence was made for various reasons, notably 

 because Humboldt was returning home, and felt that he could 

 there better build up his great work, the " Cosmos ;" also because 

 the king desired his presence. Prof. Dove, who writes this con- 

 cluding portion of the biography, gives an interesting comparison 

 of the Paris with the Berlin of forty years ago. The latter city 

 appears to have been far behind the former, both in size and in 

 everything else which tends to make a city great. The contrast 

 must at first have been painful to Humboldt : he " comments in 

 a spirit of bitterness and well-aimed satire upon the propensity 

 of that ' audacious crew,' as Goethe calls the Berlinese, to pull 

 down everything claiming distinction when the first ebullition of 

 enthusiasm has become exhausted." Rahel used to say — " In 

 Berlin everything loses prestige, and is pulled down to the level 

 of mediocrity, if not degraded to insignificance : were His Holi- 

 ness himself to come to Berlin he would soon cease to be Pope, 

 and become something quite ordinary, perhaps a horse-breaker." 

 In fact, Humboldt had left a magnificent and wealthy city to 

 settle down in a city vastly inferior, in intellect, wealth, and 

 importance. However, he soon resumed his old activity, in spite 

 of duties at court, which must have been sufficiently irksome. 

 During the winter of 1827 and 1828 he gave a course of sixty- 

 one lectures on Physical Geography, The first four of these, in 

 which he gave a general description of Nature, appeared after- 

 wards, in an extended form, as the first volume of " Cosmos." 

 Other of the lectures formed the basis of succeeding volumes of 

 the " Cosmos." When the book was printed, some years later, 

 it was received with great enthusiasm, for it had been long ex- 

 pected, and it was known that Humboldt was the only man who 

 could give to the world such vast generalisations as the subject 

 demanded. " If it be true," says Dove, "that 'man wanders 

 among the departed in the same form in which he leaves this 

 earth,' then, at the name of Humboldt, the image of the author 

 of " Cosmos " would rise before the mind as that of a venerable 

 man, with head inclined and deeply-furrowed brow, bearing upon 

 his shoulders, after the manner of Atlas, the burden of the 

 universe — a strange creation, the full significance of which he 

 only could estimate, since he alone had proved it by experience." 



It is, we think, a matter of great regret that the translators 

 have thought it wise to omit the third volume of this biography, 

 which contains an account of Humboldt's scientific labours : the 

 catalogue of his various works (appended to the second volume) 

 has also been omitted. To many of us these will be felt as 

 serious omissions. The work has been carefully translated, and 



