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Humboldt, one of the first Philosopher* who delivered Popular 

 ( 'o'irses of Lectures on Science to the People. 



Humboldt commenced his lectures on Physical Cosmography 

 on the 3d November 1827. The announcement sufficed to 

 assemble all the intellect of Berlin and its vicinity to hear 

 the celebrated naturalist. 



As he had before done in Paris, in the French language, 

 Humboldt now, in his native tongue, gave the rich fruits of 

 his researches in physical cosmography to the public, in a 

 course of lectures delivered before a select but numerous 

 assemblage. He enchanted his hearers by the peculiar force 

 of his intellectual clearness, and by his eloquence, by the 

 genuineness and warmth of his feelings, and by the inex- 

 haustible novelty of his subject: he stood before them as a 

 convincing inspiring teacher, who, like a talented creative 

 artist, brought a series of wonderful natural pictures of a 

 boldly explored world before an attentive public. This course 

 of sixty-one lectures, commenced on the 3d November, and 

 concluded on the 26th April 1828, was, as it were, the first 

 sketch of the " Kosmos," published subsequently as the re- 

 sult of his life and studies, given to the world in one work, 

 whose contents may be compared to a mine rich in precious 

 metals, and which such persons can best appreciate who 

 already have a general knowledge of natural sciences. The 

 first lectures which Alexander von Humboldt gave in the uni- 

 versity (Berlin) building, and which no scholar living within a 

 practicable distance missed, caused such a great sensation, not 

 only in the town but in all parts of the country, that scholars 

 and friends of science frequently came from long distances to 

 be present at least at one of these lectures, of which they could 

 read the reports and effects in nearly every newspaper, and 

 to be able to say that they had seen Humboldt. When some 

 of the first lectures had been delivered, the press of people 

 from all ranks was so great that Humboldt was literally 

 forced to give a repetition of the first course, adapted for a 

 more general public, nearly contemporary with the others, 

 in the large hall of the Musical Academy. And these popular 

 lectures were eagerly visited by the highest and the most 



