The Invention of Nature

Prologue

1

Description AH Chimborazo climb: AH to WH, 25 November 1802, AH WH Letters 1880, p.48; AH, About an Attempt to Climb to the Top of Chimborazo, Kutzinski 2012, pp.135–55; AH, 23 June 1802, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, pp.100–109.

2

signs of organic life disappeared: AH to WH, 25 November 1802, AH WH Letters 1880, p.49.

3

‘trapped inside an air’: AH, About an Attempt to Climb to the Top of Chimborazo, Kutzinski 2012, p.143.

4

a ‘magnificent sight’: Ibid., p.142.

5

size of crevasse: AH gave different measurements: for example, 400 feet deep and 60 feet wide in ibid., p.142.

6

AH measured altitude: 5917.16m – AH, 23 June 1802, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, p.106.

7

AH and Napoleon: Ralph Waldo Emerson to John F. Heath, 4 August 1842, Emerson 1939, vol.3, p.77.

8

‘half an American’: Rossiter Raymond, 14 May 1859, AH Letters USA 2004, p.572.

9

‘a Cartesian vortex’: AH to Karl August Varnhagen, 31 July 1854, Humboldt Varnhagen Letters 1860, p.235.

10

‘three things at’: AH, quoted in Leitzmann 1936, p.210.

11

‘love of nature’: Arnold Henry Guyot, 2 June 1859, Humboldt Commemorations,

Journal of the American Geographical and Statistical Society

, vol.1, no.8, October 1859, p.242; Rachel Carson’s

The Sense of Wonder

, 1965.

12

nature and feeling: AH to Goethe, 3 January 1810, Goethe Humboldt Letters 1909, p.305.

13

‘run through the’: Matthias Jacob Schleiden, 14 September 1869, Jahn 2004.

14

‘whose eyes are natural’: Ralph Waldo Emerson, notes for Humboldt speech on 14 September 1869, Emerson 1960–92, vol.16, p.160.

15

‘In this great chain’: AH Geography 2009, p.79; AH Geography 1807, p.39.

16

climate change: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, p.140ff.; AH, 4 March 1800, AH Diary 2000, p.216.

17

ecological functions of forest: AH, September 1799, AH Diary 2000, p.140; AH Aspects 1849, vol.1, pp.126–7; AH Views 2014, p.83; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.1, p.158; AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, p.477.

18

‘future generations’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, p.143.

19

‘one of the greatest’: Thomas Jefferson to Carlo de Vidua, 6 August 1825, AH Letters USA 2004, p.171.

20

‘nothing ever stimulated’: Darwin to Alfred Russel Wallace, 22 September 1865, Darwin Correspondence, vol.13, p.238.

21

‘discoverer of the New’: Bolívar to Madame Bonpland, 23 October 1823, Rippy and Brann 1947, p.701.

22

‘having lived several’: Goethe to Johann Peter Eckermann, 12 December 1828, Goethe Eckermann 1999, p.183.

23

Melbourne and Adelaide:

Melbourner Deutsche Zeitung

, 16 September 1869;

South Australian Advertiser

, 20 September 1869;

South Australian Register

, 22 September 1869;

Standard

, Buenos Aires, 19 September 1869;

Two Republics

, Mexico City, 19 September 1869;

New York Herald

, 1 October 1869;

Daily Evening Bulletin

, 2 November 1869.

24

‘Shakespeare of sciences’: Herman Trautschold, 1869, Roussanova 2013, p.45.

25

Alexandria, Egypt: Ibid.:

Die Gartenlaube

, no.43, 1869.

26

American celebrations:

Desert News

, 22 September 1869;

New York Herald

, 15 September 1869;

New York Times

, 15 September 1869;

Charleston Daily Courier

, 15 September 1869;

Philadelphia Inquirer

, 14 September 1869.

27

Cleveland and Syracuse:

New York Herald

, 15 September 1869.

28

Pittsburgh:

Desert News

, 22 September 1869.

29

‘whose fame no nation’ and New York celebrations:

New York Times

, 15 September 1869;

New York Herald

, 15 September 1869.

30

‘as standing on’: Franz Lieber,

New York Times

, 15 September 1869.

31

an ‘inner correlation’:

Norddeutsches Protestantenblatt

, Bremen, 11 September 1869; Glogau, Heinrich, ‘Akademische Festrede zur Feier des Hundertjährigen Geburtstages Alexander’s von Humboldt, 14 September 1869’, Glogau 1869, p.11; Agassiz, Louis, ‘Address Delivered on the Centennial Anniversary of the Birth of Alexander von Humboldt 1869’, Agassiz 1869, pp.5, 48; Herman Trautschold, 1869, Roussanova 2013, p.50;

Philadelphia Inquirer

, 15 September 1869; Humboldt Commemorations, 2 June 1859,

Journal of American Geological and Statistical Society

, 1859, vol.1, p.226.

32

‘one of those wonders’: Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1869, Emerson 1960–92, vol.16, p.160; Agassiz 1869, p.71.

33

‘in some sort’:

Daily News

, London, 14 September 1869.

34

German celebrations: Jahn 2004, pp.18–28.

35

Berlin:

Illustrirte Zeitung Berlin

, 2 October 1869;

Vossische Zeitung

, 15 September 1869;

Allgemeine Zeitung Augsburg

, 17 September 1869.

36

AH’s name across the world: Oppitz 1969, pp.281–427.

37

Nevada called Humboldt: The decision was between Washoe, Esmeralda, Nevada and Humboldt; Oppitz 1969, p.290.

38

more places named after AH: Egerton 2012, p.121.

39

‘as a natural whole’: AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.1, p.45; AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.1, p.52.

40

‘Gäa’ as title: AH to Karl August Varnhagen, 24 October 1834, Humboldt Varnhagen Letters 1860, p.18.

41

‘the clearest way’: Wolfe 1979, p.313.