The Invention of Nature

Chapter 10: Berlin

1

AH journey to Berlin: AH to Spener or Sander, 28 October 1805, Bruhns 1873, vol.1, p.354

2

dull landscape around Berlin: AH to Fürst Pückler-Muskau, Biermann und Schwarz 1999a, p.183.

3

‘tropical nature’: AH to Johann Georg von Cotta, 9 March 1844, AH Cotta Letters 2009, p.259; see also AH to Goethe, 6 February 1806, Goethe Humboldt Letters 1909, p.298.

4

‘burning under my feet’: AH to de Beer, 22 April 1806, Bruhns 1873, vol.1, p.358.

5

AH’s royal pension: Ibid., p.355.

6

comparison wages craftsmen and WH: Merseburger 2009, p.76; WH to CH, 19 June 1810, WH CH Letters 1910–16, vol.3, p.418

7

‘almost oppressive’: AH to Marc-Auguste Pictet, November or December 1805, Bruhns 1873, vol.1, p.354.

8

Napoleon on Friedrich Wilhelm III: Terra 1955, p.244.

9

keep royal appointment quiet: AH to Marc-Auguste Pictet, 1805, Bruhns 1873, vol.1, p.355.

10

AH involved in court gossip: Leopold von Buch, Diary 23 Jan 1806, Werner 2004, p.117.

11

AH and garden house: Bruhns 1873, vol.1, p.356.

12

magnetic hut: Ibid.; Biermann and Schwarz 1999a, p.187.

13

Gay-Lussac left Berlin: Werner 2004, p.79.

14

‘isolated and as’: AH to de Beer, 22 April 1806, Bruhn 1873, vol.1, p.358.

15

Bonpland’s dislike of desk-bound work: AH to Carl Ludwig Willdenow, 17 May 1810, Fiedler and Leitner 2000, p.251.

16

‘in particular concerning’: AH to Bonpland, 21 December 1805; for AH and Bonpland’s publications, see AH to Bonpland, 1 August 1805, 4 January 1806, 8 March 1806, 27 June 1806, Biermann 1990, pp.179–80.

17

‘I wrote the major part’: AH Geography 2009, p.61.

18

‘the world likes to

see

’: AH to Marc-Auguste Pictet, 3 February 1805, Bruhns 1873, vol.1, p.347.

19

‘a broad brush’: AH Geography 2009, p.64.

20

its ‘natural connection’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.1, p.xlv.

21

‘long bands’: AH Geography 2009, p.66; AH Geography 1807, p.7.

22

AH on plant distribution in

Essay

(footnote): AH Geography 2009, pp.68, 75, 96; AH Geography 1807, pp.11, 31, 82–3.

23

agriculture and plants: AH Geography 2009, pp.71–2; AH Geography 1807, pp.16–21.

24

empires and plants: AH Geography 2009, pp.72–3; AH Geography 1807, pp.23–4.

25

‘ancient’ connection: AH Geography 2009, p.67; AH Geography 1807, p.9.

26

tectonic plate theory: German geologist Alfred Wegener formulated the tectonic plate theory in 1912 but it was only confirmed in the 1950s and 1960s.

27

showing unexpected analogies: AH Geography 2009, p.79; AH Geography 1807, p.40.

28

‘a reflection of the whole’: AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.2, p.86; AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.2, p.89 (my translation ‘Abglanz des Ganzen’).

29

‘according to the shape’: AH Geography 2009, p.69; AH Geography 1807, p.13.

30

‘our imagination and our spirit’: AH Geography 2009, p.79; AH Geography 1807, p.41.

31

AH referred to Schelling: AH Geography 1807, p.v; Humboldt wrote different introductions for the French and German editions.

32

Schelling’s

Naturphilosophie

: Richards 2002, pp.114–203.

33

‘the necessity to grasp’: Henrik Steffens, 1798, in ibid., p.151.

34

‘I myself am identical’: Schelling, in Richards 2002, p.134

35

‘Prince of Empiricism’: K.J.H. Windischmann to Schelling, 24 March 1806, Werner 2000, p.8.

36

‘quarrelling poles’: AH Geography 1807, p.v.

37

concept of ‘organism’ and interconnectedness: Richards 2002, pp.138, 129ff.

38

a ‘revolution’ in science: AH to F.W.J. Schelling, 1 February 1805, Werner 2000, p.6.

39

‘dry compilation of facts’: AH to Christian Carl Josias Bunsen, 22 March 1835, AH Bunsen Letters 2006, p.29.

40

‘influence of your’: AH to Goethe, 3 January 1810, Goethe Humboldt Letters 1909, p.304; see also AH to Caroline von Wolzogen, 14 May 1806, Goethe AH WH Letters 1876, p.407.

41

‘How I should enjoy’: Goethe 2002, p.222.

42

Goethe ‘devoured’

Essay

: Goethe to Johann Friedrich von Cotta, 8 April 1813, Goethe Natural Science 1989, p.524.

43

Goethe reread

Essay

: Goethe, 17, 18, 19, 20, 28 March 1807, Goethe Diary 1998–2007, vol.3, pt.1, pp.298–9, 301; Goethe to AH, 3 April 1807, Goethe Correspondence 1968–76, vol.3, p.41.

44

Goethe and

Naturgemälde

(footnote): Goethe to AH, 3 April 1807, Goethe Correspondence 1968–76, vol.3, p.41; Goethe, 5 May and 3 June 1807, Goethe Diary 1998–2007, vol.3, pt.1, pp.308, 322.

45

Goethe’s lecture on AH: Goethe, 1 April 1807, Goethe Diary 1998–2007, vol.3, pt.1, p.302; Charlotte von Schiller, 1 April 1807, Goethe Encounters 1965–2000, vol.6, p.241; Goethe, Geognostische Vorlesungen, 1 April 1807, Goethe Natural Science 1989, p.540.

46

‘With an aesthetic breeze’: Goethe’s review of Humboldt’s

Ideen zu einer Physiognomik der Gewächse

, 31 January 1806,

Jenaer Allgemeine Zeitung

, Goethe Morphologie 1987, p.379.

47

German publication

Essay

: Johann Friedrich von Cotta to Goethe, 12 January 1807, Goethe Letters 1980–2000, vol.5, p.215.

48

universities in Prussia: Geier 2010, p.266.

49

‘buried in the ruins’: AH to Christian Gottlieb Heyne, 13 November 1807, ibid., p.254.

50

‘Why did I not stay’: AH to Johann Friedrich von Cotta, 14 February 1807, AH Cotta Letters 2009, p.78.

51

Views of Nature

bestseller: Fiedler and Leitner 2000, pp.38–69.

52

Views of Nature

AH’s favourite: Bruhns 1873, vol.1, p.357.

53

‘glowing womb of the earth’: and following quotes, AH Views 2014, pp.30, 38, 108, 121, 126; AH Aspects 1849, vol.1, pp.3, 20, 189, 216, 224; AH Ansichten 1808, pp.4, 5, 33–4, 140, 298, 316 (quotes are from the different editions).

54

‘poured their red phosphoric light’: AH Aspects 1849, vol.1, p.231; AH Views 2014, p.129; AH Ansichten 1808, pp.329–30.

55

‘melody’ of sentences: AH to Johann Friedrich von Cotta, 21 February 1807, AH Cotta Letters 2009, p.80.

56

annotations

Views of Nature

(footnote): AH Aspects 1849, vol.2, p.112ff.; AH Views 2014, p.201ff.; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.2, p.135 (this is not in the German 1808 edition of

Views of Nature

but similar on p.185).

57

‘inner feelings’: AH Aspects 1849, vol.1, p.208; AH Views 2014, p.117; AH Ansichten 1808, p.284.

58

web of life: AH Aspects 1849, vol.2, pp.7–8; AH Views 2014, pp.157–8; AH Ansichten 1808, p.163ff.

59

‘inner connections of’: AH Ansichten 1808, p.vii (my translation, ‘in den inneren Zusammenhang der Naturkräfte’); AH Aspects 1849, vol.1, p.viii; AH Views 2014, p.25.

60

‘a single picture of’: AH Aspects 1849, vol.1, p.207; AH Views 2014, p.117; AH Ansichten 1808, p.282.

61

AH miserable in Berlin: Beck 1959–61, vol.2, p.16.

62

‘follow me gladly’: AH Views 2014, pp.25–6; AH Aspects 1849, vol.1, p.ix; AH Ansichten 1808, p.viii.

63

‘stormy waves of life’: AH Aspects 1849, vol.1, p.ix; AH Views 2014, p.25; AH Ansichten 1808, p.viii.

64

‘that I plunged’: Goethe to AH, 16 May 1821, Goethe Correspondence 1968–76, vol.3, p.505.

65

‘you believe you are’: François-René de Chateaubriand, in Clark and Lubrich 2012b, p.29.

66

Thoreau and

Views of Nature

: Sattelmeyer 1988, p.207; Thoreau to Spencer Fullerton Baird, 19 December 1853, Thoreau Correspondence 1958, p.310; Thoreau referred to it in

The Maine Woods

and

Excursions

among other works.

67

‘this sky full of cobwebs’: Emerson 1959–72, vol.3, p.213; for Emerson,

Views of Nature

and AH see also Emerson in 1849, Emerson 1960–1992, vol.11, pp.91, 157; Harding 1967, p.143; Walls 2009, p.251ff.

68

Darwin and

Views of Nature

: Darwin to Catherine Darwin, 5 July 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.247.

69

Verne and AH: Schifko 2010; Clark and Lubrich 2012, pp.24–5, 170–75, 191, 204–5, 214–23.

70

‘What could I do’: Jules Verne’s

Captain Grant’s Children

(1865–7).

71

AH and Captain Nemo: Jules Verne’s

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

, 1869–70, Clark and Lubrich 2012, pp.174, 191–2.

72

‘flourishing potato fields’: AH to C.G.J. Jacobi, 21 November 1841, Biermann and Schwarz 2001b, no page numbers.

73

‘I don’t approve of’: WH to CH, WH CH Letters 1910–16, vol.4, p.188.

74

AH wrote to king: AH, Aus Meinem Leben (1769–1850), in Biermann 1987, p.113.