The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1869-10-27

river system of South America wa.
Investigated by them, and in part ex
plored. Doubling Cape Horn; Hum
boldt closely examined that wonder
tul range of mountains of which
Chimborazo is the highest peak
This mountain he climbed to the
height of eighteen thousand and nine.
ty-six feet-an elevation never before
attained by human being. He was
within two hundred feet of the sum
NIT, when an abyss yawned at his
feet, and forbade his further progress.
On another mountain of the Andes,
nine thousand feet above the level of
the sea, he enjoyed his first view OF
what he had longed all his life to be-
hold, the Pacific ocean. -; .',--i.'.
1.-THE rapture" he tells us, (which
l and my. companion then experienced
made US forget to open our barometer
X X The aspect of the Pacific
ocean had something of sslemnity for
one who owed part of his education
and his youthful tastes to one of the
companions of Captain Cook. - X.
Such days, so vividly desired, make
an epoch in a mans life. "
On his homeward way he spent
some months in Mexico, studying the
natural phenomena of that most inter-
esting country; ascending its volcanos,
traversing its elevated plains: exam
lining, measuring, recording every
thing From Mexico he sailed to
Havana, ard passed ten months in
studying the wonderful island Of
which it is the capital From Havana
he sailed, in 1904, to Philadelphia,
whence he journeyed to Washington,
where he had such welcome from
President jefferson az we should
expect that great man to bestow upon
so worthy avotary Of science. Among
the letters OF Thomas jefferson there
is one addressed to. Humboldt, from
which we may infer that they were in
the habit of corresponding, after
Humboldt's return to Europe. In
August, 1904, he landed in France,
ha. ing been absent from Europe five
years
He now took up his abode in Paris,
where he spent the next twentyrthree
years in laboriously arranging and
publishing the results of his tolr. a
long series of important works, pro
fusely illustrated, came from his in
dustrious hand. Among them were
two volumes of picturesque travel.
There was a folio with sixtynine
plates upon the Cordilleras, and the
traces to be found among them of
their ancient inhabitants. There
were volumes upon the animals, the
mountain ranges, the geology, the
distribution OF plants the grasses, and
many other subjects, comprising in
all about fifty volumes and three thou
sand engravings- While producing
this series of works, he experimental
in chemistry, studied the mountains
of Europe, and performed some po-
litical services for the King of Prus-
sia. ,-,.-.e-,.,s -a---- Fa -s4-.
Invited by the King, he removed,
in 1927, from Paris TO Berlin, his
birthplace, where he enjoyed the
highest consideration. He could
have entered the Prussian Cabinet, if
he had not chosen to continue his ca
reer az man of learning, Although
years ofage when he set
tied in his native land, he was still
both able and willing to undertake
new explorations of the globe. In
1929, under the auspices of the EN-
peror Nicholas, he made an extensive
tour of all that vast region of Asia,
over which the Russian Emperors
bear sway. and continued his journey
as far as the outposts of China !; re-
turning to Moscow after a tour of
twenty three hundred miles. Upon
his return to Berlin, he sit down to
prepare for publication the results of
this journey. 1t was thirteen years
before the work appeared {: but almost
it contains was clear ad-
dition to our knowledge of geogra-
ply, geology, or climatology. a7'.<si'
Finslly at the age of seventy five,
after having spent sixty years in st udy
much of which was original research
in the closest contact with nature, and
having produced an immense number
of volumes upon this marvellous globe,
upon its climates, soils,
plants, and mountain ran
ges, he withdrew once more to his
study, in order to present in one con-
venient work the substance of all that
is known respecting the world we in
habit. The first volume of Cosmos
in April, I845, and the last
volume in 1858, only a few months
before his death. OF this book it
may be said, that he who masters it
has become by SO doing, an educated.
person. '2f'- - f.-tf 49, " Cd
Humboldt appears to have been
man Of admirable character in every
respect Few men have known bet
ter than he how to conduct their lives
so as to be happy, and to be source
OF happiness. A Democrat, he lived
at the court of an absolute king with
out concealingl his own principles,
and without any improper conces-
sions to the principles of the court.
Perhaps no man! Of science has ev-
er lived who was, so universally hon
ored as he during the last twenty
wears of his life. 1t has been said, al
though 1 can hardly believe it, that
he received as many as hundred
thousand letters in a. year. He used
often to Jest upon his renown, which
he said ls'augmented with his imbe7
cility,p and endured the boring of his
numberless correspondents with as
tonishiug good-nature-i .4ash.1aes
= Liam in a condition." heehumor-
olsly nswrote, in hislieighty-seyenth