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graphy connected with scientific measureraentii and observations : a 

 Society which now counts amongst its members so many luminaries 

 of science, and which possesses a President who is not only a Peer 

 of the realm, but also a Peer in the realms of the republic of intellect 

 and science ? 



I now leave my venerable friend, in order to express to you my 

 thanks for the honour done to him, in the name of my country and 

 of German science. For in honouring him you have honoured both : 

 you have honoured a man to whom Germany looks up with undi- 

 vided respect and with just pride. 



The admirable sketch given of his literary efforts and successes by 

 the Council of this Society, shows good cause for this respect and 

 this pride. We admire in him, above all, the unity of thought and of 

 purpose wdiich pervades this long and illustrious life, and the perse- 

 verance with which he has, in his maturer age, concentrated the 

 pursuits of his youth, on the basis of his own unrelenting studies 

 and uninteiTupted observations. As Herodotus, after he had travelled 

 over the greatest part of the civilized portion of the ancient world, 

 comprehended the results in his immortal History, thus Humboldt, 

 after having obser%'ed the phaenomenaof nature from the Chimborazo 

 to the frontiers of China, concentrated his thoughts and researches 

 in his immortal Kos)nos. 



In ordinary cases, we might have been led to expect of such an 

 all- comprehensive work, a spirited aggregate of his own thoughts, 

 and those of others ; yea, some people might have regretted that 

 the author had not confined himself to a smaller field, to be more 

 original. But Humboldt attempted something higher, and by the 

 consent of mankind he has accomplished it in a very eminent degree. 

 He thought that he could show^ why and how this World and the 

 Universe itself is a Kosmos, a divine whole of Life and intellect, 

 namely, by its all-pervading eternal laics. Law is the supreme rule 

 of the Universe : and that Law is Wisdom, is Intellect, is Reason, 

 whether viewed in the formation of planetary systems or in the or- 

 ganization of the worm ; and Man is the Microcosmus and centre of 

 this creation, contemplating, and more or less perceiving, this uni- 

 versal order; and science is called upon to investigate and to interpret 

 them as far as she is able. This work, in short, is not a farrago, it 

 is an original composition, part of which is illustrated by the rest, 

 and the whole of which is greater than all its component parts toge- 

 ther. Humboldt began the fourth and last volume when he entered 

 his 82nd year, and his last letter, only a few days old, informs me of 

 the progress of the printing of that volume. 



My Lord, it is for these reasons that I beg to express to you the 

 thanks of my country and of German science which you have ho- 

 noured in Humboldt. 



But you have honoured more in Humboldt — you have honoured 

 Humanity ; for Humboldt ever has been a true cosmopolite as well 

 as a good patriot; he has ever been a friend of mankind. Every 

 pilgrim of Science has always been welcome in his house and his 

 mind. Almost 40 years ago he topk me kindly by the hand, when 



