New-York daily tribune., 1858-02-02
n b,i,e porpbyry d,sh from the qusrr'es " ''''''
:, =. La. -.xs ,narely nominal.

The fornaFtiee we're merely nominal
81 h,a hu,;oe,s which detained me iouf Gays
e, po,rn ,snt note to Humboldt, sshng per
mission 20 caIl upon him again, 10 case n'' .'"0
-, lit The next days express from
-. hro,,sht ME a most Kind and fr'endiy re-
~ ,.9 mo bach TO the baltic sand-sea,
:. he calls the Brandeneurg pam oou s'"',ns
nst although the Emperor Alexander ana h''
..,. ae,e 70 arrive that evening, be would never
80. tale an hour or two from the excitement d
a., co,r, ,o talk 10 me about the North. lie was
,.,d;ne in the Palace at Potsdam, where ne di-
,.eted me 10 call at noon on Monday.
The train by which left Berlin was hhed wi'h
4roer, and diplomatic officials in full uniform, 60
- aoun 70 do homage TO the Car. In the car
,s.e in which sat. were two old gentlemen VINO
presently commenced conversing in trench. After
time their talk wandered 10 the Orlent' ana tney
.,ote &C Diebitsch and his campaigns, and the
,,e.tv ofTnkiar.Iskelessi. of Suddenly, one Of them
,sked in Arabic, " Do you speak Arabic Ihe
other answered in Turkish, "No butt speak Turk.
;sh.n The first replied in the same language,
which. after a time, the two exchanged for Modern
Greek and finally subsided into Russian. / made
nothing more, notwithstanding there was an air Of
q secret mission about them, which greatly piqued
nv curiosity. With us was also Prussian regi
mental surgeon decorated with the Order of 81.
Stanislaus for his services i'll the Crimea.
Potsdam was all alive with the Imperial arrival.
The King of Saxony was also coming TO dinner;
and, that the three monarchs might be pleasantly
Il = H. tIa cnark linz Marie Tar
Ioni, who had arrived with us, tripped out oil the
care and off to the Royal Theater. The park a
Sans Souei was in brilliant holiday trim, the walks
newly swept and the fountains jetting their taest
and brightest streams The streets Of the dull little
eourt-town glttered with respondent uniforms,
among which the driver of my carriage pointed out
Carl. Albert, and various other princes OF the
House of Prussia. As we were crossing an open
space near the palace mounted guard, followed
by sn open carriage, drawn by span OF superb
black horses, suddenly appeared. at once recog
nized the puncby figure in green military coat,
hpttoned up to the chin who sat on the right hand,
although had never before seen his Majesty. My
driver reined up on one side and took off his hat
] lifted mine as the King passed, looked at him,
and he replied with a military salute. 4. His face
was slightly flushed and his eyes bright, and re-
member thinking that the heavy and rather stupid
ar which he wears in his portraits did him injus-
tee. But he was even then, perhaps, laboring
under that congestion which struck him down the
same night, and from the effects Of which he will
never recover.
I wac CHAD when the clock struck twelve at last
and could leave the rattling streets for that quiet
corner of the palace in which Humboldt lives The
door was opened, as before, by Seifert who recog-
pized me at once. "Welcome bach" {" he cried;
"we know where you have beehive have read
All your letters! His Exceency has been quite
sieh, and YOU will not find him so strong as he was
last year, but he is in tOlerabe health again, thank
God Come in, come in; he is waiting" Opening
the doors as be spoke he usheted me into little
library. on the threshold Of which Humboldt, who
had risen, received me. He was slightly paler
than before, little thinner, perhaps, and l could
see that his step not 80 firm; but the pae-oiu
eve beamed 81 clear an intelligence as ever, and
the voice had as steady and CHEEKY tone. II
shook hands with the cOrdiality Of friend, and
after the first greetings were over, questioned m
minutely concerning my travels in the North
But one topic soon suggests hundred others,
and be was ere long roaming at large over the
whole field of geography and climstology, touching
the farthest and darkest regions of the earth with
the light of his stupendous knowledge. The sheets
Of the new volume of Cosmos lay upon the table.
Here is what have been doing, since you were
here before" said he, taking it up: the work
will be published in two or three weeks" "You
fnd yourself, then, st capable of such labor 7" l
yentured to ask. "Work is now part of my
life :" said he; IL sleep so little, and much rest
would be irksome. Day before yesterday, worked
for ,iIteen hours, reviewing these sheets" care
you not greatly fatigued, asked, latter such an
e1ertion =" "On the contrary" lie replied, 81
feel refreshed but the performance of it depends
greatly on my state Of bodily health. / am un-
conscious Of any mental fatigue" As saw in the
face, and heard in the voice, of the splendid old
man, all the signs Of sound, unfailng intellect,
could well believe it, had prided myself little
on having worked with the brain fifteen hours day
for six months, yet here was Humboldt in his
eighty ninth year capable of an equal eIertiOn.
The manner in which he spoke Of his bodily
health was exceedingly interesting to me. His
mind, full of vgor and overfowing with active life,
remed to consider the body as something inde.
pendent Of ITSELF and TO watch, with curious eye,
i,s gradual decay, as he might have watched that
Of tree in his younger days. 81 have been un-
well through the Summer" said he, "but you
must not believe all you may have seen in the
newspapers concerning my illness. They stated