DARWIN AND HUMBOLDT. 



[337] 33 



his brother in Berlin, or with trusted 

 friends in other parts of Europe, the 

 work in which he was engaged, 

 comparing notes, assisting at new ex- 

 periments, suggesting further in- 

 quiries, ever active, ever inventive, 

 ever suggestive, ever fertile in resource, 

 — neither disturbed by the great po- 

 litical commotions which he witness- 

 ed, nor tempted from his engrossing 

 labors by the most brilliant offers of 

 public service or exalted position. It 

 was during one of his first visits to 

 Berlin, where he went to consult 

 about the organization of the Univers- 

 ity with his brother William, then 

 Minister of State in Prussia, that he 

 published those fascinating "Views 

 of Nature," in which he has given pic- 

 tures of the tropics as vivid and as ex- 

 citing to the imagination as if they liv- 

 ed on the canvas of some great artist. 

 The question naturally arises, Who 

 provided for the expenses of these 

 extensive literary undertakings ? 

 Humboldt himself. No one knows 

 exactly what he spent in the pub- 

 lication of his works. . Some ap- 

 proach to an estimate may, however, 

 be made by computing the cost of 

 printing, paper, and engraving, which 

 cannot have amounted to less than 

 two hundred and fifty thousand dol- 

 lars. No doubt the sale indemnified 

 him in some degree, but all know 

 that such publications do not pay. 

 The price of a single copy of the 

 complete work on America is two 

 thousand dollars, — double that of the 

 great national work published by 

 France upon Egypt, for the publica- 

 tion of which the government spent 

 about eight hundred thousand dollars. 

 Of course very few copies can be 

 sold of a work of this magnitude. 

 But from his youth upward Hum- 

 boldt spent his private means liber- 

 ally, not only for the carrying out 

 and subsequent publication of his 

 own scientific undertakings, but to 

 forward the work of younger and 

 poorer men. The consequence was 

 that in old age he lived upon a small 

 pension granted to him by the King 

 of Prussia. 



His many-sideness was remarkable. 

 He touched life at all points. He 

 was the friend of artists, no less than 

 of scientific and literary men. His 

 desire to make his illustrations worthy 

 of the great objects they were to 

 represent brought him into constant 

 and intimate relation with the 

 draughtsmen and painiers of his day. 

 Even David did not think it below 

 his dignity to draw an allegoric title- 

 page for the great work. He valued 

 equally the society of intelligent and 

 cultivated women, such as Madame 

 de Stael, Madame Recamiek, Rahel, 

 Bettina, and many others less known 

 to fame. He was intimate with states- 

 men, politicians, and men of the world. 

 Indeed, the familiarity of Humboldt 

 with the natural resources of the coun- 

 tries he had visited, — with their min- 

 eral products and precious metals, — 

 made his opinion valuable not only in 

 matters of commerce, but important 

 also to the governments of Europe ; 

 and after the colonies of South Amer- 

 ica had achieved their independence, 

 the allied powers of Europe invited 

 him to make a report upon the po- 

 litical condition of the new republics. 

 In 1822 he attended the Congress of 

 Verona, and visited the South of Italy 

 with the King of Prussia. Thus his 

 life was associated with the political 

 growth and independence of the New 

 World, as it was intimately allied 

 with the literary, scientific, and artist- 

 ic interests of the Old. He never, 

 however, took an active part in pol- 

 itics at home, and yet all Germany 

 looked upon him as identified with the 

 aspirations of the liberal party, of 

 which his brother William was the 

 most prominent representative. 



Before closing this period of Hum- 

 boldt's life I would add a few words 

 more in detail upon the works pub- 

 lished by him after his return from 

 South America. One of the first 

 fruits in the rich harvest reaped from 

 this expedition was the successful 

 attempt to which I have already 

 alluded at representing graphically 

 the physical features of that con- 

 tinent. Thus far such representations 



