DEATH  OF  HUMBOLDT. 
398 
tage  of  a  singularly  careful  education.  He  studied  at  Frankfort-on-the-Oder, 
at  Berlin,  and  at  Gottingen,  devoting  himself  chiefly  to  the  natural  sciences,  to 
the  Greek  language,  and  to  the  application  of  science  to  the  practical  arts. 
Among  his  early  instructors  in  the  former  were  Blumenbach,  Beckmann,  and 
Lichtenberg.  His  university  studies  were  varied  by  excursions  to  the  Hartz, 
Mountains,  and  to  the  vicinity  of  the  Rhine,  which  occasioned  the  first-fruits 
of  his  literary  labors,  in  a  work  entitled,  "The  Basalt  on  the  Rhine"  (1790). 
In  the  Spring  and  Summer  of  that  year,  accompanied  by  one  or  two  conge- 
nial friends,  he  made  a  tour  through  Belgium,  Holland,  England,  and  France. 
The  acquaintance  of  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  and  the  enthusiasm  of  one  his  companions, 
who  had  made  a  voyage  to  the  South  Sea,  awakened  the  desire  for  visiting 
tropical  regions,  and  gave  a  coloring  to  his  future  life.  On  his  return  from  En- 
gland, he  passed  some  time  at  a  commercial  academy  in  Hamburg,  with  a  view 
of  engaging  in  the  pursuits  of  trade.  But  his  inclinations  strongly  tended  to 
the  cultivation  of  physical  science,  and  in  1791,  he  repaired  to  the  School  of 
Mines  at  Freiberg,  where  he  received  private  lessons  from  the  celebrated 
Werner,  and  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  Leopold  von  Buch,  Freiesleben,  and  Del 
Rio.  His  researches  in  this  locality  led  to  the  preparation  of  a  treatise  on  the 
fossil  botany  of  Freiberg,  which  was  published  a  year  or  two  -  later  (1793.)  A. 
larger  work  on  the  physiology  of  the  nerves  and  muscles  (1797-99)  attests  the 
predominant  tendency  of  his  mind. 
The  death  of  his  mother  in  1796  removed  one  of  the  obstacles  to  his  cherished 
purpose  of  a  grand  scientific  expedition  to  the  tropics.  After  pursuing  an  ex- 
tensive course  of  study  in  the  application  of  astronomy  to  geography,  and 
engaging  in  meteorological  observations  with  Von  Buch,  he  went  to  Paris, 
where  he  first  made  the  acquaintance  of  Bonpland,  with  whom  he  passed  the 
Winter  of  1798  in  Madrid.  This  was,  in  fact,  the  turning  point  of  his  life. 
Such  a  favorable  impression  did  he  make  on  the  Spanish  authorities,  that  he 
received  permission  to  visit  at  pleasure  any  of  the  Spanish  possessions  in 
America  or  the  Indian  Ocean,  with  a  guaranty  of  the  free  use  of  his  astronomi- 
cal instruments,  and  of  no  restraint  in  the  collection  of  specimens  in  natural 
science. 
In  June,  1799,  he  embarked,  in  company  with  Bonpland,  for  South  America, 
and  arrived  at  Cumana  in  the  middle  of  July.  The  next  eighteen  months  were 
spent  in  an  exploring  tour  through  Venezuela  ;  and  in  February  they  left  the 
sea-coast  for  the  south,  with  a  view  of  reaching  the  river  Apure  and  the  Orinoco. 
They  passed  over  the  cataracts  of  Atures  and  Maypures  in  Indian  canoes  to 
Fort  San  Carlos  on  Rio  Negro,  about  two  degrees  from  the  equator,  and  after 
a  weary  journey  through  the  wilderness,  returned  to  the  Orinoco,  of  which 
they  made  the  first  exact  scientific  observation.  From  Cumana,  at  which  they 
arrived  in  safety  after  their  perilous  excursion,  they  sailed  to  Havana,  where 
they  remained  several  months.  They  next  went  to  Bogota,  the  vicinity  of 
which  they  carefully  explored,  and  in  September,  1801,  continued  their  journey 
to  the  South,  arriving  in  Quito,  Jan.  6,  1802.  Here  they  remained  until  the 
following  June,  pursuing  their  researches  in  the  volcanic  region,  and  ascending 
to  heights  which  had  never  before  been  trodden  by  the  foot  of  man.  On  June 
23,  1802,  they  reach  a  height  of  19,230  feet  on  the  Chimborazo,  which  was 
more  than  3,000  feet  higher  than  the  point  attained  by  La  Condamine  in  1738. 
Here  they  planted  their  instruments  upon  a  narrow  ledge  of  rock  which  pro- 
jected from  the  vast  field  of  unfathomed  snow.  A  broad  impassable  chasm 
prevented  their  further  advance  ;  they  were  enveloped  in  thick  fogs,  and  in  an 
atmosphere  of  the  most  piercing  cold ;  they  breathed  with  difficulty,  and  blood 
burst  from  their  eyes  and  lips.  Only  once  has  this  elevation  on  the  Chimborazo 
been  surpassed,  when  Boussingault,  in  1831,  attained  a  summit  of  19,600  feet, 
by  a  different  path  from  that  chosen  by  Humboldt. 
Crossing  the  passes  of  the  Andes,  the  travellers  pursued  their  way  to  the 
upper  valley  of  the  Amazon,  and  made  a  thorough  exploration  of  that  portion 
of  Peru.  In  December,  they  sailed  from  Gallo  to  Guayaquil,  and  after  a  second 
tedious  voyage,  arrived  at  Acapulco,  March  23,  1803.    Thence,  they  proceeded 
