The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-09-30
FORSTER AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS LET

FORSTER AND UMBOLDT-ANOTHER LET
TER FROM THE AUTHOR OF COSMOS
the Grand Duke of Saxe-W eimar advised him 70
send copy of i. to the venerable Humboldt. This
the author did marking in the book several passa-
ges having reference to the relations which existed
between Humboldt and Forster. The following
letter, in Humboldt's own handwriting was received
in reply:
| GLOW shall l, honored sir, thank You warmly
! enough for having followed the friendly advice
given you by the noble and liberal Grand Duke in
! Wilhelmsthal! lou have furnished an admirable
vigorously written, physiognomically accurate and
impartial biography of my departed friend. You
have employed me for two long nights, for | have
read page Tor page OF your excellent work. 1t has
caused me to experience many happy and many sad
emotions For thirty years have had leisure only
at night. L have spent halfa century-no matter
whittier restless, wandering life has led me-in
telling myself and others how much owed to nv
Ieaeher and friend, George Forster, in generazing
my views OF nature, and in strengthening and de-
veloplng that which had begun to dawn within me
before that happy intimacy took place.
'ln these nights, disposed to sadness as nv
strength is now rapidly falling have been wildly
reminded OF the singular smlarities and contrasts
exhibited in all the relations of George Forster's
and my own life. like direction of political
opinlons-mine not derived from Forster but ante
datlng his-the first view of the ocean by the side
OF the clrcumnavigator, at time when little
hoped that twelve years later l. too would be on
the waters of the South Seas; nv soiourn in Lon
don at the time when [Captainl Cooks widow was
yet living, and when Sir Joseph Banks took liking
10 me; IN my Siberian expedition | came upon the
banks of the Samara, whence the eldest Forster
sent to Llnnaus, at Upsaa, specimen of the wild
eagerly; Reiphold Forster accompanied by the
lao george, having visited the spot in 1865, four
years before was born which | reached in 1925;
under the Car Alexander | was invited by Count
kumanzot, in 1872, to great scientific expedition
through the interior of Asia as George Forster
under the Empress Catharne, had been invited to
aunr rr1,1f H.,
modore Mulowsky;-a like bitter disappointment:
both expeditions were frustrated by wars with the
French and Turks.
Glow your valued gift has stirred up within me-
OLD memories! Your whole Sixth Book is mas
teriy-but fills me with sadness; this is espe.
cially the case with the Sth, 9th and 10th lines
from the bottom of page 251-and vet they were
welcome! WV
"With the renewed expression of NV heartfelt
thanks and friendly esteem, remain,
Your obedient AV HUNgo1pr
Il am personally very thankful to YOU for having
so warmly and amiably mentioned my unyieldin9
and faithful attachment to and admiration for
George Forster, at time when YOU could not have
known mat your work would fall into my hands,
&c 40 not lear that you will from the fourth volume
OF my 'kosmos, judge me to be mere believer
IN the change of NATTER like Moleschott, (paoe
Is OF your preface,) for one can believe in The
ever-varyng lettering and interfering of matter,
without on that account, doubling the existence
OF the higher, spiritual essence in the animal Or
ganization."
The George Forster, of whose biography Hmm
0oldt speaks with so much warmth, was born at
Nassenhuten, near Dantsic in 1854 His father was
John Renhold Forster, Prussan Privy Councillor
and Professor OF Natural History Zoology at the
university of Halle. He was a descendant of the
Lords Forester of Scotland, who had taken refnre
In Polish Prussia. In 1772 George accomnanisd
his father on Captain Cooks second EXPLORING ex.
pedltion-the father having been appointed Main
raiist to the expedition, and both father and son
being masters of the English language. GEORGE
subsequently became the historian of the evna5io
ton. In 1892 George Forster, then first librarian
OF the Elector of Mayence, embraced with feryor
the cause of the French revolutionsts and was sent
as deputy from Mayence to the Convention at paris
lie was in Paris when the city of Mavence was re-
captured by Prussia, which involved the contisca
tion OF all his property, including his books and
~
FORSTER, now ruined man, separated from his
wife, and determined to leave Europe and nrocnnd
to the Indies. With this end in view he com |
menced the study of the Oriental lanpuaons U;o |
exertions and his sufferings, however. were Too |
great, and he died in Paris in 1884 His Lahore in
both the literary and scientific departments nf |
knowledge were immense, inferior only to those If
his father, who, whether as a zooloeist. botanist
historian or linguistic spoke and wrote seven, |
teen modern and dead languages-had few superi-
ors In the seventeenth century.
An enterprising American publisher, we doubt |
not, would find his account in a translation of |
.George Forster's Life at Home and Abroad. w |
Y. Erening Post.
The FURTUFsT Wren VIM