Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1849-11-17
ALEXANDER Won HUMBOLDT.


gushing sweet waters; he knows every
thing, and knows thoroughly what he
doe know"
The noet Wis right. Alexander Won
Humbold', who completed his 8Oth vear
on the 18th of September of this We ",
wi'h all the unliminished vigo~ of his
min ), and with body still hnie. is one
Of tho q c'est and most comprehensive
inds 'hot hive flowished in anv age.
and ono of the mo impo TINT men of
on own RE lns been most lppn rely
called the Napoleon Of natural science,
in o"de"o convey the idea that he stands
forth wi hout compare fo-r1 amongst o.
dinarv mortals.
This MN. in he nlcnitude of his un-
dprstanding and with the ce rest con-
scionsnesS. has lived with and through
ne ,iod Of transition such ns the wa! ID has
never seen since the nlipst centuries of
ChriStrndom. Bon in he same wear
with NAPOLEON, he knew tlr Great
F"ede ich; his youth was cocvol with the
Moth Ame lean contest for Liberty: he
Ndmi"ed the grent w ,shirgton the
dr"mn of the Freneh revolution that con-
vulsPd 'he wo"ld and that seed 'orrnts
of blood, he saw, and rot reno civ las;,
before him. with is marital feats AMI is
oinnts. But while the Germrn enpi e
Of a thousand vears was tumhline to
min. and the Germ"n land was hpcomnr
81 p"ev of the pocnt con1Icrsr, Hrm~
hol' wrs wandering through the table
l,nds Of the Andes o. the low pl ins nca~
the Orinoco and Rinnegvo; he was not
an immc1i,te witness of the disasters his
countrymen bew lied at Ulmor .Jrna.-
Du'ing The long time of the restoration
he employed hi lei u"e in the romnoSi.
'ion of those literary wo ks that will re-
main as pattern in nll ages for the nntu-
raj sciences fo' future resen"ch in the
antiquities of Amc ica, and for eve~v
hranrh of geography. He, the MN of
fourscore wears, who his so stirred men
by the living wo~d, and 80 GENTLY p.o-
NOTED study, has seen, too, in the even
ing of his infinitely rich life, how the
German people still struggle for new
fo'maiion--for unity and f,eedom So
enlightened soul, so clear hinke~, ~
head so incapable of nll narrow minded
ness, must he devoid of p~e;udic", must
be favor'hly inclined, fom the depths of
that soul TO the cau'e of eelom and
PROCESS. Yn' fo any immedir'e poll +
cnl activity his nntuve has been ms li"l
disposed ms Goe'he's was. Hum old
has ever been content with employing hi
influence preferably i'm beh..lf of science.
which owes IN infinite debt of acknow-
Judgement to him.
There are ve'v few scientific eat in
dividual of The list sky yenrs with
whom he had no. ne -sonl relations. II
ANYTHING IN him, in addition to the inn
mense comprehen iveneSs of his acqui =
ments. could rni$e orr as'ori;hmeni, j.
be his almost unpar He'd industry, and
that wonderful ACTIVITY that dis'ingui h.
es this z eat mon He has enlr'ged the
| science Of navigation, espe,i lly enrich
+ ing the historP of nnutirs-geologv,
zoology, hotanv. a"e no less indebted to
him than the collective phv ical science
more particularly meteo ologv. mNgn"-
tisni. that science which tents of the dis
tribution Of heat over the eith. geogrn.
phy, agriculture and trade.
i At an age of seventy-four vea~s, when
other old men repo g, Humboldt begin
! his last work---the Cosmos---the sketch
Of physical description Of the wo III.
and which is now uomple'ed. in the lite
evening of bury life work whose
outlines have heen po trayed in the soul
of the author fo' almost hplf ), century.
He wished TO delini,tc qrw everything
{ at il created on the earth and in celes.
tiil space hid been take up by him into
his conception Of r phy ical cosmic ldes-
Grip ion.
With this work. that is also unique in
literature, that has been translated into
the lnneunge o. all civilized nations, the
powerful mind wishes to cloe is honor
able scientific lreer. He has been. we
repent. a fortunate man tlu ing the whole
period of his life. So propitious has
lestiny been 10 i}im, that it youehs fed
to him bro.her, who, in o,her depart-
ments Of genius, WIS nearly quito as
gseat, and IN INV respeetS oven still
more conspi uous than hirnlelf. Both
bfo,hets, Alexander an! William, bound
by lt'ie rictcst friendship to each, have
fehded to the perfection Of one another.
Slex9nder survived the other; hut
tho names Of roth these hsroes In science