r "1 I; I I \]\' I ^ ^ COSMOS: i A SKETCH OF A PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIVERSE. BY ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. TBAXSLATED FKOM THE GERMAN, BY E. C OTTE. Naturo Tero rerura vis atquc majestas in omnibus momentis fide caret, si quis modo partes ejus ac non totara complcctatur animo. — Plin., Hist. Nat., lib. vii. c. I. VOL. IL NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS 329 (fe 331 PEARL STREET, FRANKLIN SQUARE. v^r^ / p CONTENTS OF VOL. li. PART I. INCITEMENTS TO THE STUDY OF NATURE. rUE IMAGE E.EFLECTED BY THE EXTERNAL WORLD ON THE IMAGr- INATION. POETIC DESCRIPTION OF NATURE. LANDSCAPE PAINT- ING. THE CULTIVATION OF EXOTIC PLANTS, WHICH CHARACTER- IZE THE VEGETABLE PHYSIOGNOMY OF THE VARIOUS PARTS OF THE earth's SURFACE 1 9-21 I Description of Nature. — The Difference of Feeling excited by the Contemplation of Nature at different Epochs and among different Races of Men *21-82 Descriptions of Nature by the Ancients 21 Descriptions of Nature by the Greeks 22 Descriptions of Nature by the Romans 29 Descriptions of Nature in the Christian Fathers 39 Descriptions of Nature by the Indians 43 Descriptions of Nature by the Minnesingers , 44 Descriptions of Nature by the Arian Races 49 Natural Descriptions by the Indians 50 Natural Descriptions in the Persian AVriters 52 Natural Descriptions in the Hebrew Writers 57 Hebrew Poetry 58 Literature of the Arabs 60 General Retrospect 62 Descriptions of Nature in early Italian Poets 62 Descriptions of Nature by Columbus QQ Descriptions of Nature in Camoens's Lusiad 68 Descriptions of Nature in Ercilla's Araucana 71 Calderon 73 Modern Prose Writers 74 Travelers of the fourteenth and fifteenth Centuries 78 Modern Travelers , . , 79 Goethe 82 II. Landscape Painting^ in its Influence on the Study of Nature. — Graphical Representation of the Physiognomy of Plants. — l^he Characisr and Aspect of Vegetation in different Zones 82-98 Landscape Painting among the Ancients 83 The Brothers Van Eyck 87 Landscape Painting of the sixteenth and seventeenth Centuries 88, 8£ Frr-nz Post d Haarlem 90^ 91 IV CONTENTS. Fag* Tntrodaclion of Hot-houses in our Gardens 91 The Treasures open to the Landscape Painter in the Tropics. . . 93 The Perfection of Art in Greece 94 The Condition of Art in more Modern Times 95 Tropical Scenery 96 Panoramas 98 III. Cultivation of Tropical Plants. — Contrasts and Assemblages of Vegetable Forms. — Impressions induced by the Physiognomy and Character of the Vegetation 99-1 Oo Cultivation of Exotic Plants 99 Eastern Gardens .„ 101 Chinese Parks and Gardens \j6 Physiognomy of Nature 105 PAUT 11. HISTORY OF THE PHYSICAL CONTEMPLATION OF THE UNIVERSE. PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF THE GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT AND EXTEN- SION OF THE IDEA OF THE COSMOS AS A NATURAL WHOLE 106—118 The Knowledjre of Nature amonnr the Ancients 108 Events which have been the Means of extending a Knowledge of Nature 109 (Comparative Philology Ill The Idea of the Unity of the Cosmos IIS Histor}' based on Human Testimony knows of no Primitive Race 114 Ancient Seats of Civilization 117 PRINCIPAL MOMENTA THAT HAVE III'JLUENCED THE HISTORY OF THE PHYSICAL CONTEMPLATION OF THE UNIVERSE 119 I. The Mediterranean considered as the Starting-point 1 19—153 Civilization in the Valley of the Nile , . . 124 The Cultivation of the Phoenicians 128 The Amber Trade 131 The geographical Myth of the Elysion 133 The Expeditions of Hiram and Solomon 136 The Ophir (El Dorado) of Solomon 138 The Etruscans 139 The highly-gifted Hellenic Races 140 The Landscape of Greece 143 The three Events which extended the Knowledge of the Universe 144 The Extent of Inland TrafTic 146 The Doric Migrations c 148 Contact with the East 149 The Passage beyond the Pillars of Hercules 151 [I. Expeditions of the Macedonians under Alexander the Greai 1 53-1 69 The Foundation of Greek Cities in Asia 1 55 CONTENTS. V fhe vast Sphere of new Ideas opened to Mankind by the Cam- paigns of Alexander 155 The Countries through which the INIacedonians passed 157 The Natural Products fii*st made known 158 Aristotle 160 The Men of Aristotle's School 163 The Comparison of Races 165 The Schools of Babylon 166 Alexander's Advance to the Land of the Five Rivers 168 ni. Extension of the Contemplation of the Universe under the Ptolemies 170-179 The three great Ptolemies 171 The Caravan Trade, its Influence in extending a Knowledge of different Countries 171, 172 Proofs of the Commercial Relations maintained by the Egyptians 174 The Tendency of the Schools of Alexandria 174 'The Foundation of the Alexandrian INIuseum 175 The Alexandrian Astronomers 176 The slow Advance of Astronomy from those remote Ages to its present high Stand 179 IV. Universal Dominion of the Romans 180—199 The Extent of the Area of the Roman Dominions 181 The few Observers of Nature who appeared at this Period 182 The Greatness of the National Character of the Romans 184 Diffusion of the Latin Tongue 185 The Expeditions undertaken by Asiatic Rulers 186 The Works of Strabo and Ptolemy 187 The Way-measurers in use among the Chinese 191 The Optical Inquiries of Ptolemy 19v The Botanical Gardens of the Romans 195 The Historia Naturalis of Pliny 195 Reference to the Influence exercised by the Establishment of Christianity 199 V. Invasion of the Arabs 200-228 Principal Momenta of the Recognition of the Unity of Natr.re . . 200 The Arabs 201 Natural Products of Arabia 204, 205 Nomadic Life in Arabia 207 Mental Culture of the Arabs 208 Arabian Geographers 213 The learned Men of Arabia 216 Astronomical Works of the Arabs , 222 Science of Numbers 225 VI. Period of Oceanic Discoveries 228-301 The fifteenth Centur}', its Tendencies 228 The first Discovery of Amer'ca 230 VI CONTENTS. Part The conjectured Discovery of America by the Irish 234 The Efforts of Missionaries . 235 The Traces of Gaelic supposed to be met with in American Dia- lects 236 The Rediscovery of America by Columbus 238 The Discovery of Tropical America 240 Albertus Magnus, Bacon, and Vincenzius of Beauvais 241 Realists and Nominalists 243 The Encyclopedic Works of the fifteenth Century 246 The Revival of Greek Literature 248 Important Events in Asia 249 Early Travelers 249, 250 Marco Polo's Narratives 251 Use of the Magnetic Needle 253 The supposed Inventor of the Mariner's Compass 254 Application of Astronomy to Navigation 255 Martyr de Anghiera 260 The Charts consulted by Columbus 261 The Characteristics of Columbus 263 The Discovery and Navigation of the Pacific 267 The first Circumnavigation of the Earth 270 The Conquistadores 271 The Discovery of the Sandwich Islands, &c 272 Spanish Travelers in the new Continent 274 Papal Line of Demarkation 277 Line without Magnetic Variation 278 The Magnetic Pole 281 The Line of Perpetual Snow 282 The Equatorial Current 283 The first Descriptions of ibj Southern Constellations 286 The Coal-bags and the ]\lf.gellanic Clouds 286 The Southern Cross 288 The Determination of the Ship's Place 291 The Age of the Conouista 296 VII. Great Discoveries in the Heavens 301—353 The Telescope 302 The seventeenth Century 302 Nicolaus Copernicus 303 The different Stages of the Development of Cosmical Contempla- tion 309 The Theory of Eccentric Intercalated Spheres 316 The great Men of the seventeenth Centurv 316 The accidental Discovery of the Telescope 317 Telescopic Discoveries ,.... 319 The Discovery of Jupiter's Satellites 320 The Spots upon the Sun , . , . 324 Galileo 324 Kepler 325 CONTEXTS. vn The Zodiacal Light 329 Polarization and Interfei'ence of Light 332 Measurable Velocity of Light 333 William Gilbert 334 Edmund Hallcy 336 Land and Sea Expeditions 336 Instruments for measuring Heat 337 The Electric Force 341 Otto von Guericke 342 Pneumatic Chemistry 343 Geognostic Phenomena 347 The Charm inherent in ^Mathematical Studies 351 VIIL Retrospect of the Epochs considered 352-356 Recapitulation 352 The Power of penetrating Space 353 Early Gems of Natural Knowledge 35-1 The Advanae of various Scieacej .........v.....,....*..... S53 SUMMARY. Vol. II. GENERAL SUMMARY OF THE CONTENTS. k. Incitements to the Study of Nature. — The image reflected by the *?x terual world on the imaginatioa Page 19-21 I. Poetic Delineation of Nature. — The feeling entertained for nature according to difference of times and races p. 21-82 II. Landscape Painting. — Graphical representation of the physiog nomy of vegetation p- 82-98 III. Cultivation of Exotic Plants. — Contrasted apposition of vegeta- ble forms p. 99-105 B. History of the Physical Contemplation of the Universe. — Principal momenta of the gradual development and extension of the idea of the Cosmos as one nataral whole p. 106-118 I. The Mediterranean the starting-point of the attempts at an ad- vance toward the northeast (by the Argonauts), toward the south (to Ophir), toward the west (by the Phoenicians and Colgeus of Samos). Simultaneous reference to the earliest civilization of the nations who dwelt around the basin of the Mediterranean p. 119-153 II. Campaigns of the Macedonians vnder Alexander the Great. — Fu- sion of the East and West. Hellenism furthers the blending of nations from the Nile to the Euphrates, the Jaxartes and the Indus. Sudden extension of the contemplation of the Universe by direct observations, as well as by intercourse with anciently-civilized industrial nations p. 153-169 III. Increased Contemplation of the Universe under the Ptolemies. — Museum at Serapeum. Encyclopedic learning. Generalization of nat- ural views regarding the earth and the regions of space. Increased maritime trade toward the south p. 170-179 IV. Universal Dominion of the ^omar^s. — Influence of a political union on Cosmical views. Advance of geography by means of inland trade. The development of Christianity generates and fosters the feel- ing of the unity of the human race p. 180-199 V. Irruption of the Arabian Races. — Intellectual aptitude of this branch of the Semitic races. Taste for the study of nature and its forces. Medicine and chemistry. Extension of physical geography, astronomy, and the mathematic sciences generally p. 200-228 VI. Period of Oceanic Discoveries. — Opening of the western hemi- sphere. America and the Pacific. The Scandinavians. Columbus, Cabot, and Gama ; Cabrillo, Mendana, and Quiros. The greatest abundance of materials now presented itself to the western nations of Europe for the establishment of physical geography p. 228-301 Vtl. Period of the great Discoveries in the Regions of Space. — The application of the telescope. Principal epochs in the history of astron- omy and mathematics, fr in Galileo and Kepler to Newton and Leib aitz p. 301-0^ A 2 X SUMMARY OF THE CONTENTS. VIII. Retrospect. — Multiplicity and intimate connection of the scieii tific efforts of recent times. The history of the physical sciences be. comes gradually associated with the history of the Cosmos Page 352-350 SPECIAL SUMMARY. A.. Means of Incitement to the Study of Nature p. 19-2 1 I. Poetic Delineation of Nature. — The principal results of observation refen'ing to a purely objective mode of treating a scientific description of nature have already been ti-eated of in the picture of nature ; we noW; therefore, proceed to consider the reflection of the image con- veyed by the external senses to the feelings and a poetically-framed imagination. The mode of feeling appertaining to the Greeks and Ro- mans. On the z-eproach advanced against these nations having enter- tained a less vivid sentiment for nature. The expression of such a sen- timent is more rare among them, solely in consequence of natural descriptions being used as mere accessories in the great forms of lyric and epic poetry, and all things being brought in the ancient Hellenic forms of art within the sphere of humanity, and being made subservi- ent to it. Pagans to Spring, Homer, Hesiod. Tragic authors: frag- ments of a lost work of Aristotle. Bucolic poetry, Nonnus, Anthology — p. 27. Romans; Lucretius, Virgil, Ovid, Lucan, Lucilius the younger. A subsequent period, in which the poetic element appears only as an incidental adornment of thought; the Mosella, a poem of Ausonius. Roman prose writers; Cicero in his letters, Tacitus, Pliny. Descrip- tion of Roman villas — p. 38. Changes in the mode of feeling and in ""heir representation produced by the diffusion of Christianity and by an anchorite life. Minucius Felix in Octavius. Passages taken from the writings of the Fathers of the Church : Basil the Great in the wil- derness on the Armenian river Iris, Gregory Nyssa, Chrysostora. Mel- ancholy and sentimental tone of feeling — p. 38-43. Influence of the difl'erence of races manifested in the different tone of feeling pervading the natural descriptions of the nations of Hellenic, Italian, North Ger manic, Semitic, Persian, and Indian descent. The florid poetic litera- ture of the three last-named races shows that the animated feeling for nature evinced by the North Germanic races is not alone to be ascx'ibed to a long deprivation of all enjoyment of natui'e through a protracted winter. The opinions of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm on the chivalric poetiy of the Minnesingers and of the German animal epos ; Celto-Irish descriptions of natm'e — p. 48. East and west Arian nations (Indiana and Persians). The Ramayana and Mahabharata; Sakuntala and Ka- lidasa's Messenger of Clouds. Pei'sian literature in the Iranian High- lands does not ascend beyond the period of the Sassanidte — p. 54. (A fragment of Tlieodor Goldstlicker.) Finnish epic and songs, collected by Elias Lonnrot from the lips of the Karelians — p. 56. Aramseic na- tions : natural poetry of the Hebrews, in which we trace the reflection of Monotheism — p. 57-60. Ancient Arabic poetry. Descriptions in Antar of the Bedouin life in the desert. Descriptions of nature in Am- ru'l Kais — p. 61. After the downfall of the Aramceic, Greek, and Ro- man power, there appears Dante Alighieri, whose poetic creations breathe from time to time the deepest sentiment of admiration for the terrestrial life of nature. Petrarch, Boiardo, and Vittoiia Colonna. The ^-Etna Dialogus and the picturesque delineation of the luxuriant vegetation of the New World in the HistoricE Venetce of Bembo. Chris, topher Columbus — p. 66. Cainoens's Lusiad — p. 68. Spanish poe- SUMMARY OF THE CONTENTS. X\ try: tlie Ataucana of Don Alonso do Ercilla. Fray Luis de Leon and Calderon, with the remarks on the same of Ludwig Tieck. Shakspeare, Milton, Thomson — p. 74. French prose writers : Rousseau, Buffon, Beruardin de St. Pierre, and Chateaubriand — p. 75-77. Review of the narratives of the older travelers of the Middle Ages, John Maude- ville, Hans Schiltberger, and Bernhardvon Breitenbach; contrast with modern travelers. Cook's companion, George Forster — p. 80. The blame sometimes justly applied to descriptive poetry as an independ- ent form does not refer to the attempt either to give a picture of distant zones visited by the writer, or to convey to others, by the force of applicable words, an image of the results yielded by a direct contem- plation of nature. All parts of the vast sphere of creation, fi-om the equator to the frigid zones, are endowed with the happy power of ex- ercising a vivid impression on the human mind — p. 82. II. Landscape painting in its animating influence on the study of na- ture. In classical antiquity, m accordance with the respective mental direction of different nations, landscape painting and the poetic delin- eation of a particular region were neither of them independent objects of art. The elder Philostratus. Bcenography. Ludius. Evidences of landscape painting among the Indians in the brilliant period of Vi- kramaditya. Herculaneum and Pompeii. Painting among Christians, from Constantino the Great to the beginning of the Middle Ages ; of landscape painting in the historical pictures of the brothers Van Eyck. The seventeenth century the most brilliant epoch of landscape paint- ing. . Miniatures on manuscripts — p. 87. Development of the ele- ments of painting. (Claude Lorraine, Ruysdael, Gaspard and Nicolas Poussin, Everdingen, Hobbima, and Cuyp.) Subsequent striving to give natural truthfulness to the representation of vegetable forms. Rep- resentation of tropical vegetation. Franz Post, the companion of Prince Mjtirice of Nassau. Eckhout. Requirement for a representation of the physiognomy of nature. The great and still imperfectly completed cosmical event of the independence of Spanish and Portuguese Ameri- ca, and the foundation of constitutional freedom in regions of the chain of Cordilleras between the tropics, where there are populous cities sit- uated at an elevation of 14,000 feet above the level of the sea, together with the increasing civilization of India, New Holland, the Sandwich Islands, and Southern Africa, will undoubtedly impart a new impulse and a more exalted character to landscape painting, no less than to me teorology and descriptive geography. Importance and application of Barker's panoramas. The conception of the unity of nature and the feeling of the harmonious accord pervading the Cosmos will increase in force among men in proportion to the multiplication of the means for representing all natural phenomena in delineating pictures — p. 98. III. Culiivaiion of Exotic Plants. — Impression of the physiognomy of vegetable forms, as far as plantations are capable of producing such an impression. Landscape gardening. Earliest plantation of parks in Central and Southern Asia. Trees and groves sacred to the gods — p. 102. The gardens of the nations of Eastern Asia. Chinese gardens under the victorious dynasty of Han. Poem on a garden, by the Chi- nese statesman See-ma-kuang, at the close of the eleventh centuiy, Prescripts of Li3U-tscheu. Poem of the Emperor Kien-long, descrip- tive of nature. Influence of the connection of Buddhist monastic estab- lishments on the distribution of beautiful characteristic vegetable formj —p. 105. B. History of the Physical C Dnternplation of the Universe. — The hi.«»to XL SUMMARY OF THE CONTENTS ry of the recognition of the universe is wholly different from the historj of the natural sciences, as given in our elementary works on physics and on the morphology of plants and animals. This is the history of our conception of the unity of phenomena, and of the reciprocal con nection existing among the natural forces of the universe. Mode of treating a history of the Cosmos : a. The independent efforts of reason to gain a knowledge of natural laws ; h. Cosmical events which have suddenly enlarged the horizon of observation ; c. The invention of new means of sensuous perception. Languages. Points of radiation from which civilization has been diffused. Primitive physics and the natural science of barbarous nations obscured by civilization — p. 118. Principal Momenta of a History of a Physical Contemplation of tki Uiiiverse. I. The basin of the Mediterranean the starting-point of the attempts to extend the idea of the Cosmos. Subdivisions in the form of the ba- sin. Importance of the form of the Arabian Gulf. Intersection of two geognostic systems of elevation from N.E. to S.W., and from S.S.E. tc N.N.W. Importance of the latter direction of the lines of intersection considered with reference to general international intercourse. An- cient civilization of the nations dwelling round the Mediterranean. The Valley of the Nile, the ancient and modern kingdom of the Egyp- tians. The Phoenicians, a race who favored general intercourse, were the means of diffusing alphabetical writing (Phcenician signs), coins as medium of currency, and the original Babylonian weights and pleas- ures. The science of numbers, arithmetic. The art of navigating by night. West African colonies — p. 130. Pelasgian Tyrrhenians and Etruscans (Rasenae). Peculiar tendency of the Eti'urian races to maintain an intimate communion with natural forces; the fulguratores and aquiieges — p. 140. Other anciently civilized races dweUing around the Mediterranean. Traces of cultivation in the East, under the Phrygians and Lycians; and in the West, under the Turduli and the Turdetani. Dawn of Hel- lenic power. Western Asia the great thoroughfare of nations emigra ting from the East; the iEgean island woi-ld the connecting link be- tween Greece and the far East. Beyond the 48th degree of latitude, Europe and Asia are fused together, as it were, by flat steppes. Pher- ecydes of Syros, and Herodotus, considered the whole of North Scyth- ian Asia as appertaining to Sarmatian Europe. Maritime power, and Doric and Ionic habits of life transmitted to the colonial cities. Ad- vance toward the East, to the Euxine and Colchis ; first acquaintance with the western shore of the Caspian Sea, confounded, according to Hecataeus, with the encircling Eastern Ocean. Inland trade and bar ter carried on by the chain of Scytho-scolotic races with the Argippae ans, Issedones, and the Arismaspes, rich in gold. Meteorological myth of the Hyperboreans. Opening of the port of Gadeira toward the west, which had long been closed to the Greeks. Navigation of Colajus of Samos. A glance into the boundless; an unceasing striving for the far distant; accurate knowledge of the great natural phenomenon of the periodic swelling of the sea — p. 153. IE Campaigns of the Macedonians under Alexander the Great, a\d ihi long-enduring Influence of the Bactrian Empire. — With the excf ption of the one great event of the discoveiy and opening of tropical America eighteen and a half centuries later, there was no other period in which ^ richer field of natural views, and a more abundant mass of materials UMMARY uF THE CONTENTb. XlM tor tha foundations of cosraical knowledge, and of comparative ethno» logical study, were presented at once to one single portion of the Immaw race. The use of these materials, and the intellectual elaboration of matter, are facilitated and rendered of more importance by the diret» lion imparted by the Stagirite to empirical "investigation, philosophical epeculation, and to the strict definitions of a language of science. The AJacedonian expedition was, in the strictest sense of the word, a scien- tific expedition. Callisthenes of Olynthus, the pupil of Aristotle, and friend of Theophrastus. The knowledge of the heavens, and of the earth and its products, was considerably increased by intercourse with Babylon, and by the observations that had been made by the dissolved Chaldean order of priests — p. 169. III. Increase of the Contemplation of the Universe under the Ptole tnies. — Grecian Egypt enjoyed the advantage of political unity, while its geographical position, and the entrance to the Arabian Gulf, brought the profitable tiaffic of the Indian Ocean within a few miles of the south- eastern shores of the- Mediterranean. The kingdom of the Seleucidae did not enjoy the advantages of a maritime trade, and was frequently shaken by the conflicting nationality of the different satrapies. Active traffic on rivers and caravan tracks with the elevated plateaux of the Seres, north of the Uttara-Kuru and the Valley of the Oxus. Knowledge of monsoons. Reopening of the canal connecting the Red Sea with the Isile above Bubastus. History of this water route. Scientific institu- tions under the protection of the Lagides; the Alexandrian jNIuseum, and two collections of books in Bruchium and at Rhakotis. Peculiai direction of these studies". A happy genei'alization of views manifests itself, associated with an industrious accumulation of materials. Era- tosthenes of Cyrene. The first attempt of the Greeks, based on imper- fect data of the Bematists, to measure a degree between Syene and Alexandria. Simultaneous advance of science in pure mathematics, mechanics, and astronomy. Aristyllus and Timochares. Views enter- tained regarding the structure of the universe by Aristarchus of Samos, and Seleucus of Babylon or of ErythrcEa. Hipparchus, the founder of scientific astronomy, and the gi'eatest independent astronomical observer of antiquity. Euclid. Apollonius of Perga, and Archimedes — p. 179. IV. Influence of the Universal Dominion of the Romans and of their Empire 071 the Extension of Cosmical Views. — Considering the diversity in the configuration of the soil, the variety of the organic products, the distant expeditions to the Amber lands, and under iElius Gallus to Ara- 1/ia, and the peace which the Romans long enjoyed under the monarchy of the Caesars, they might, indeed, during four centuries, have afforded more animated support to the pursuit of natural science ; but with the Roman national spirit perished social mobility, publicity, and the main- tenance of individuality — the main supports of free institutions for tha furtherance of intellectual development. In this long period, the only observers of nature that present themselves to our notice are Dioscori- des, the Cilician, and Galen of Pergamus. Claudius Ptolemy made the first advance in an important branch of mathematical physics, and in the study of optics, based on experiments. Material advantages of the extension of inland trade to the interior of Asia, and the navigation of Myos Hormos to India. Under Vespasian and Domitian, in the time of the dynasty of Han, a Chinese army peneti'ates as far as the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea. The direction of the stream of migration in Asia is from east to west, while in the new continent it inclines fron? north to sou^h. Asiatic migrations begin, a century and a half beforo nV SUMMARY OF THE C0i\TEl\T3. niir era, with the inroads of the Hiungnu, a Turkish race, on the fair haired, blue-tyed, probably ludo-Gernianic race of the Yueti and Usun, near the Chinese Wall, Roman embassadors are sent, under Marcus Aurelius, to the Chinese court by way of Tonkin. The Emperor Clau- dius received an embassy of the Rashias of Ceylon. The great Indian mathematicians, Warahamihira, Brahmagupta; and probably also Arya- bhatta, lived at more recent periods than those we are considering ; but th3 elements of knowledge, which had been earlier discovered in India in wholly independent and separate paths, may, before the time of Di- ophantus, have been in part conveyed to the West by means of the ex- tensive univei'sal commerce carried on under the Lagides and the Cae- uars. The influence of these widely-diff'used commercial relations is manifested in the colossal geographical works of Strabo and Ptolemy. The geographical nomenclature of the latter writer has recently, by a careful study of the Indian languages and of the history of the west Ira- nian Zend, been recognized as a historical memorial of these remote commercial relations. Stupendous attempt made by Pliny to give a description of the universe ; the characteristics of his encyclopedia of nature and art. While the long-enduring influence of the Roman do- minion manifested itself in the history of the contemplation of the uni- verse as an element of union and fusion, it was reserved for the diflRi iion of Christianity (when that form of faith was, from political motives, forcibly raised to be the religion of the state of Byzantium) to aid iu awakening an idea of the unity of the human race, and by degrees to give to that idea its proper value amid the miserable dissensions of re- ligious parties — p. 199. V. Irruption of the Arabs. — Effect of a foreign element on the pro cess of development of European civilization. The Arabs, a Semitir primitive race susceptible of cultivation, in part dispel the barbarism which for two hundred years had covered Europe, which had been shaken by national convulsions; they not only maintain ancient civil ization, but extend it, and open new paths to natural investigation Geographical figure of the Arabian peninsula. Pi'oducts of Hadramaut Yemen, and Oman. Mountain chains of Dschebel-Akhdar, and Asyr. Gerrha, the ancient emporium for Indian wares, opposite to the Phoe- nician settlements of Aradus and Tylus. The northern portion of the peninsula was brought into animated relations of contact with other cultivated states, by means of the spread of Arabian races in the Syro- Palestinian frontier mountainous districts and the lands of the Euphra- tes. Pre-existing indigenous civilization. Ancient participation in the general commerce of the universe. Hostile advances to the West and to the East. Hyksos and Ariaeus, prince of the Himyarites, the alliea of Minus on the Tigris. Peculiar character of the nomadic life of the Arabs, together with their caravan tracks and their populous cities — p. 200-208. Influence of the Nestorians, Syrians, and of the pharmaceu- tico-medicinal school at Edessa. Taste for intercourse with nature and her forces. The Arabs were the actual founders of the physical and chemical sciences. The science of medicine. Scientific institutions in the brilliant epoch of Almansur, Haroim Al-Raschid, Mamun, and Mo- tasem. Scientific intercourse with India. Employment oade of the Tscharaka and the Susruta, and of the ancient technical arts of the Egyptians. Botanical gardens at Cordova, under the Calif Abdurrah- man the poet — p. 208-217. Efforts made at independent astronomical observations and the inipro\-eraent in instruments. Ebn J^^nis 'imploy? the pendulum as a measure of time. The woik of Alhaz on the re SUMMARY OF THE CONTENTS. X"? fi-actiofl ot rays. Indian planetary tables. The distui'tauce in the moon's longitude recognized by Abul Wefa. Astronomical Congres-i of Toledo, to which Alfonso of Castille invited Rabbis and Arabs. Ob servatoiy at Meragha, of Ulugh Beig, the descendant of Timur, at Sam arcand, and its influence. Measurement of a degree in the plain be- tween Tadmor and Rakka. The Algebra of the Arabs has originated from two currents, Indian and Greek, which long flowed independent ly of one another. Mohammed Ben Musa, the Chowarezmier. Dio- phantus, first translated into Arabic at the close of the tenth century, by Abul Wefa Buzjani. By the same path which brought to the Aralss the knowledge of Indian Algebra, they likewise obtained in Persia and on the Euphrates the Indian numerals and the knowledge of the ingen- ious device of Position, or the employment of the value of position They transmitted this custom to the revenue officers in Northern Afri- ca, opposite to the coasts of Sicily. The probability that the Christians of the West were acquainted with Indian numerals earlier than the Arabs, and that they were acquainted, under the name of the system of the Abacus, with the employment of nine ciphers, according to their position-value. The value of position was known in the Suanpan, de- rived from the interior of Asia, as w^ell as in the Tuscan Abacus. Would a permanent dominion of the Arabs, taking into account their almost exclusive predilection for the scientific (natural, descriptive, physical, and astronomical) results of Greek investigation, have been beneficial to a general and free rfiental cultivation, and to the creative power of art?— p. 219-228. VI. Period of the great Oceanic Discoveries. — America and the Pa- cific. Events and extension of scientific knowledge which prepared the way for great geographical discoveries. As the acquaintance of the nations of Europe w'ith the western portion of the globe constitutes the main object of this section, it is absolutely necessary to divide in an in- contestable manner the first discovery of America in its northern and temperate zone by the Northmen, from the rediscovery of the same con- tinent in its tropical regions. While the Califate of Bagdad flourished under the Abbassides, America was discovered and investigated to the 41^° noi-th latitude by Leif, the son of Erik the Red. The Faroe Islands and Iceland, accidentally discovered by Naddod, must be regarded as intermediate stations, and as starting points for the expeditions to the Scandinavian portions of America. The eastern coasts of Greenland in Scoresby's Land (Svalbord), the eastern coasts of Baffin's Bay to 72'-' 55', and the entrance of Lancaster Sound and Barrow's Straits, were all visited — Earlier (?) Irish discoveries. The White Men's Land be tween Virginia and Florida. Whether, previously to Naddod and In- golf's colonization of Iceland, this island was inhabited by Irish (West- men fi-om American Great Ireland), or by Irish missionaries (Papar, the Cl^rici of Dicuil), driven by the Northmen from the Faroe Islands? The laational treasures of the most ancient records of Northern Europe, endangered by disturbances at home, were transferred to Iceland, which three and a half centuries earlier enjoyed a free social Constitution, and were there preserved to future ages. We are acquainted with the com- mercial relations existing between Greenland and New Scotland (the American Markland) up to 1347 ; but as Greenland had lost its repub- lican Constitution as early as 1261, and, as a crown fief of Norway, had been interdicted from holding intercourse with strangers, and there, fore also with Iceland, it is not surprising that Columbus, whSn he vis* ited Iceland in 1477, should have obtained no tidings of the new conti' XVI SUMMARY UF THE CONTExVTS. nent situated to the west. Commercial relations existed, however, m late as 1481, between the Norwegian port of Bergen aiid Greenland — p 228-238. Widely different, in a cosmical point of view, from the isolated ard Darren event of the first discov^ery of the new continent by the North- men, was its rediscovery in its tropical regions by Christopher Colum bus, although that navigator, seeking a shorter route to Eastern Asia, had not the object of discovering a new continent, and, like Amerigo Vespucci, Ijelieved to the time of his death that he had simply reached the eastern shores of Asia. The influence exercised by the nautical discoveries of the close of the fifteenth and the beginning of the six teenth century on the rich abundance of the ideal world, can not be thoroughly understoocl until we havo thrown a glance on the ages which separate Columbus from the blooming period of cultivation under the Arabs. That which gave to the age of Columbus the peculiar character of an uninterrupted and successful striving for an extended knowledge of the earth, was the appearance of a small number of daring minds (Albertus Magnus, Roger Bacon, Duns Scotus, and William of Occam), who incited to independent thought and to the investigation of sepa- rate natural phenomena ; the revived acquaintance with the works of Greek literatm-e • the invention of the art of printing ; the missionary embassies to the Mogul princes, and the mercantile travels to Eastern Asia and South India (Marco Polo, Maudeville, and Nicolo de' Conti); the improvement of navigation; and the use of the mariner's compass or the knowledge of the north and south pointing of the magnetic needle, which we owe to the Chinese through the Arabs — p. 238-254. Early expeditions of the Catalans to the western shores of Tropical Africa ; discovery of the Azores ; general atlas of Picigano, of 1367. Re- lations of Columbus to Toscanelli and Martin Alonso Pinzon. The more recently known chart of Juan de la Cosa. The South Pacific and its islands — p. 255-273. Discovery of the magnetic line of no variation in the Atlantic Ocean. Inflection observed in the isothennal lines a hund- red nautical miles to the west of the Azores. A physical line of demark- tttion is converted into a political one ; the line of demarkation of Pope Alexander VI., of the 4tli of May, 1493. Knowledge of the distribution of heat; the line of perpetual snow is recognized as a function of geo- graphical latitude. Movement of the waters in the Atlantic Ocean. Great beds of sea-weed — p. 273-285. Extended view into the world of space ; an acquaintance with the stars of the southern sky ; more a sensuous than a scientific knowledge. Improvement in the method of determining the ship's place ; the political requirement for establishing the position of the papal line of demarkation increased the endeavor to discover practical methods for determining longitude. The discovery and first colonization of America, and the voyage to the East Indies round the Cape of Good Hope, coincide with the highest perfection of art, and with the attainment of intellectual freedom by means of relig- ious refoiTn, the forerunner of great political convulsions. The dai-iiig enterprise of the Genoese seaman is the first link in the immeasurable chain of mysterious events. Accident, and not the deceit or intrigues of Amerigo Vespucci, deprived the Continent of America of the name of Columbus. Influence of the New World on political institutioug and on the ideas and inclinations of the people of the Old Continent — p. !285-301. VII. Period of great Discoveries in the Regions of Space. — The ap plication of the telescope: a more correct vieu of the structure of the SUMMARY OF THE CONTENTS. XVli auiverse prepared the way for these discc /eries. Nicholas Copernicus was engaged in making observations with the astronomer Brudzewski at Cracow when Columbus discovered America. Ideal connection be- tween the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, by Peurbach and Re- giomontanus. Copernicus never advanced his system of the universe as an hypothesis, but as incontrovertible truth — p. 301-313. Kepler and the empirical planetary laws which he discovered — p. 313-317. Invention of the telescope; Hans Lippershey, Jacob Adriaansz (Meti< as), and Zacharias Jansen. The first fruits of telescopic vision : mounts aius of the moon; clusters of stars and the Milky Way; the four satel- lites of Jupiter; the triple configuration of Saturn; the crescent forai of Venus; solar spots; and the period of rotation of the sun. The dis- covery of the small system of Jupiter indicates a memorable epoch in the fate and sound foundation of astronomy. The discovery of Jupiter's satellites gave rise to the discovery of the velocity of light, and the rec- ognition of this velocity led to an explanation of the aberration-ellipse of the fixed stars — the j)erceptive evidence of the translatory movement of the earth. To the discoveries of Galileo, Simon Marius, and Johann Fabricius followed the discovery of Saturn's satellites by Huygens and Cassini, of the zodiacal light as a revolving isolated nebulous ring by Childrey, of the variation in brilliancy of the light of the fixed stars by David Fabricius, Johann Bayer, and Holwarda. A nebula devoid of stars in Andromeda described by Simon Marius — p, 317-331. While the seventeenth century owed at its commencement its main brilliancy to the sudden extension of the knowledge of the regions of space atforded by Galileo and Kepler, and at its close to the advance made in piu'e mathematical science by Newton and Leibnitz, the most important of the physical problems of the processes of light, heat, and magnetism, likewise experienced a beneficial progress during this great age. Double refraction and polarization ; traces of the knowledge of the interference of light in Grimaldi and Hooke. William Gilbert separates magnetism from electricity. Kucu^ledge of the periodical advance of lines with- out variation. Halley^ early conjecture that the polar light (the phos- phorescence of the earth) is a magnetic phenomenon. Galileo's ther- moscope, and its employment for a series of regular diurnal observations at stations of different elevation. Researches into the radiation of heat. Torricellian tubes, and measurements of altitude by the position of the mercury in them. Knowledge of aerial cuiTents, and the influence of the earth's rotation on them. Law of rotation of the winds conjectured by Bacon. Happy, but short-lived, influence of the Accademia del Ci- mento on the establishment of mathematical natui'al philosophy, as based on experiment. Attempts to measure the humidity of the atmosphere ; condensation hygrometer. The electric process ; telluric electricity ; Otto von Guericke sees, for the first time, light in induced electricity. Beginnings of pneumatic chemistry; observed increase of weight in metals from oxydation; Cardanus and Jean Rey, Hooke and Mayow. Ideas on the fundamental part of the atmosphere {spiritus nitro-atireus), which enters into all metallic calxes, and is necessary to all the processes of combustion, and the respiration of animals. Influence of physical rtnd chemical knowledge on the development of geognosy (Nicolaua Steno, Scilla, Lister) ; the elevation of the sea's bottom and of littoral districts. In the greatest of all geognostic phenomena — the mathemat' ical figure of the earth — we see perceptibly reflected all the conditiona of a primitive age, or, in other words, the primitive fluid state of the rotating mass and its consolidation mto a terrestilal spheroid. Mea* XVIU SUMMARY OF THE CONT.G\TS. arements of degrees and peudalutn experiments in different latitudes. Compression. The figure of the earth was known to Newton on theo- retical grounds, and the force discovered, of the operation of which the laws of Kepler are a uecessaiy consequence. The discovery of such a force, whose existence is developed in Newton's imperishable work Principla, was nearly simultaneous with the opening of new paths to mathematical discovery by the invention of the infinitesimal calculus — p. 331-352. VIII. Retrospect, Multiplicity, and, intimate Connection existing among the Scientific Efforts of Modern Times. — Retrospect of the principal momenta in the liistory of cosmical contemplation connected with great events. The multiplicity of the links of connection among the different branches of science in the present day increases the difficulty of separ- ating and limiting the individual portions — Intellectual activity hence- forth produces great results almost without any external incitement, and by its own internal power manifested in every directic n. The hii- tory of the physical sciences gradually fuses into that of the idea cf Universal Nature— p. 352-356. COSMOS. PART I. INCITEMENTS TO THE STUDY OF NATURE THE LMAGE REFLECTED BY THE EXTERNAL WORLD ON THE LMAGIN' ATIOX.— POETIC DESCRIPTION OF NATURE.-LANDSCAPE PAINTING.— THE CULTIVATION OF EXOTIC PLANTS, WHICH CHARACTERIZE THE VEGETABLE PHYSIOGNOMY OF THE VARIOUS PARTS OF THE EARTH'S SURFACE. "We are now about to proceed from the sphere of objects tu that of sensations. The main results of observation, which, stripped of all the extraneous charms of fancy, belong to the purely objective domain of a scientific delineation of nature, have been considered in the former part of this work in the mutually connected relations, by which they constitute one sole picture of the universe. It now, therefore, remains for us to consider the impressions reflected by the external senses on the feelings, and on the poetic imagination of mankind. An inner world is here opened before us, but in seeking to penetrate its mysterious depths, we do not aspire, in turning over the leaves of the great book of Nature, to arrive at that solution of its problems which is required by the philosophy of art in tracing aesthetic actions through the psychical powers of the mmd, or through the various manifestations of intel- lectual activity, but rather to depict the contemplation of natural objects as a means of exciting a pure love of nature, and to investigate the causes which, especially in recent times, have, by the active medium of the imagination, so powerfully encouraged the study of nature and the predilection for dis- tant travels.^ The inducements which promote such con- templations of nature are, as I have already remarked, of three different kinds, namely, the sesthetic treatment of nat- ural scenery by animated delineations of animal and vegetable forms, constituting a very recent branch of literature ; land- scape paintmg, especially where it has caught the character- istic features of the animal and veget'ible wcrld ; and tha * See vol. i-, p. b7 20 COSMOS. more widely-diffL .ed cultivation of tn)pi2dl floras, and the more strongly contrasting opposition of exotic and indigenous forms. Each of these might, owing to their historical rela- tions, be made the object of a widely-extending consideration, but it appears to me more in conformity with the spirit and aim of this work merely to unfold a few leading ideas, in order to remind the reader how differently the aspect of nature has acted on the intellect and feelings of different nations at dif- ferent epochs, and how, at periods characterized by general mental cultivation, the severer forms of science and the more delicate emanations of fancy have reciprocally striven to infuse their spirit into one another. In order to depict nature in its exalted sublimity, we must not dwell exclusively on its extern- al manifestations, but we must trace its image, reflected in the mind of man, at one time filling the dreamy land of phys- ical myths with forms of grace and beauty, and at another developing the noble germ of artistic creations. In limiting myself to the simple consideration of the in- citements to a scientific study of nature, I would not, how- ever, omit calling attention to the fact that impressions arising from apparently accidental circumstances often — as is repeat- edly confirmed by experience — exercise so powerful an effect on the youthful mind as to determine the Avhole direction of a man's career through fife. The child's pleasure in the form of countries, and of seas and lakes,^ as delineated in maps ; the desire to behold southern stars, invisible in our hemis- phere ;t the representation of palms and cedars of Lebanon as depicted in our illustrated Bibles, may all implant in the mind the first impulse to travel into distant countries. If I might be permitted to instance my own experience, and recall to mind the source from whence sprang my early and fixed desire to visit the land of the tropics, I should name George Forster's Deli7ieations of the South Sea Islands, the pictures of Hodge, which represented the shores of the Ganges, and which I first saw at the house of Warren Hastings, in Lon- don, and a colossal dragon-tree in an old tower of the Botan- ical Garden at Berlin. These objects, which I here instance by way of illustration, belong to the three classes of induce- * As the configuration of the countries of Italy, Sicily, and Greece, and of the Caspian and Red Seas. See Relation Historique di: Vcy. aiia Regions Equinoxiales, t. i., p. 208. t' Dante., Purg., 1., 25-28. Goder pareva il ciel di lor fiammelle: O setteutrional vedovo sito, Vol che private se' di mirar quelle \ DESCRIPTIONS OF NATURE BY THE AN'CIENTS. 21 merits which we have already named, viz., the description of nature when springing from an animated impression of terres trial forms ; the delineative art of landscape painting ; and, lastly, the direct objective consideration of the r^.haracteristic features of natural forms. The power exercised by these in- citements is, however, limited to the sphere embraced by mod- ern cultivation, and to those individuals whose minds have been rendered more susceptible to such impressions by a pe culiar disposition, fostered by some special direction in the de velopment of their mental activity. DESCRIPTION OF NATURE.— THE DIFFERENCE OF FEELING EXCITED BY THE CONTEMPLATION OF NATURE AT DIFFERENT EPOCHS AND AMONG DIFFERENT RACES OF MEN. It has often been remarked that, although the enjoyment derived from the contemplation of nature was not wholly un- known to the ancients, the feeling w^as, nevertheless, much more rarely, and less vividly expressed than in modern times. In his considerations on the poetry of the sentimerics, Schiller thus expresses himself:^ " If we bear in mind the beautiful scenery with which the Greeks ^^'cre surrounded, and remem- ber the opportunities possessed by a people living in so genial a climate, of entering into the free enjoyment of the contem- plation of nature, and observe how conformable were their mode of thought, the bent of their imaginations, and the hab- its of their lives to the simpjicity of nature, which was so faith- fully reflected in their poetic works, we can not fail to remark with surprise how few traces are to be met among them of the sentimental interest with which we, in modern times, at- tach ourselves to the individual characteristics of natural scen- ery. The Greek poet is certainly, in the highest degree, correct, faithful, and circumstantial in his descriptions of na- ture, but his heart has no more share in his words than if he were treating of a garment, a shield, or a suit of armor. Na- ture seems to interest his understanding more than his moral perceptions ; he does not cling to her channs with the fervoi and the plaintive passion of the poet of modern times." However much truth and excellence there may be in these * See Schiller's SdmmtUche V/erke, 1826, bd. xvlii., s. 231, 473, 480 488; Gerviniis, Neuere GescJi. der Poet. National-hitler attr der Dcui tcken, 1840, bd. i., s. 135; Adolph Bekker, in Charikles th. i., s. 219 Compare, also, Eduard Miiller, Ueher Sophokleische Naturanschawmj^ *tnd di£ tiefe Naturempjindung der Griechen. 1842, s. 10, 26. 2U COSxMO.^. remarks, they must not be extended to the whole of antiquity; and I moreover consider that we take a very Hmited view of antiquity when, in contradistinction to the present time, we restrict the term exckisively to the Greeks and Romans, A profound feehng of nature pervades the most ancient poetry of the Hebrews and Indians, and exists, therefore, among na- tions of very different descent — Semitic and Indo-Germanic. We can only draw conclusions regarding the feelings enter- tained by the ancients for nature from those expressions of the sentiment which have come down to us in the remains of their literature, and we must, therefore, seek them with a care, and judge of them with a caution proportionate to the infrequency of their occurrence in the grand forms of lyric and epic poetry. In the periods of Hellenic antiquity — the flowery season in the history of mankind — we certainly meet with the tenderest expressions of deep natural emotion, blended with the most poetic representations of human passion, as delineating some action derived from mythical history ; but specific descriptions of nature occur only as accessories, for, in Grecian art, all things are centered in the sphere of human life. The description of nature in its manifold richness of form, as a distinct branch of poetic literature, was wholly unknown to the Greeks. The landscape appears among them merely as the basil-ground of the picture of which human figures con- stitute the main subject. Passions, breaking forth into action, riveted their attention almost exclusively. An active life, spent chiefly in public, drew the minds of men from dwelling with enthusiastic exclusiveness on the silent workings of na- ture, and led them always to consider physical phenomena as having reference to mankind, whether in the relations of ex- ternal conformation or of internal development.* It was al- most exclusively under such relations that the consideration of nature was deemed worthy of being admitted into the do- main of poetry under the fantastic form of comparisons, which often present small detached pictures replete with objective truthfulness. At Delphi, paeans to Spring were sung,t being intended, * Schnaase, Geschichle der hildenden Kunste bei den Alien, bd. ii., 1843, s. 128-138. t Plut., de E. I. apud Delphos, c. 9 [an attempt of Plutarch's to explain the meaning of an inscription at the entrance of the temple of Delphi. — T?:'}. Regarding a passage of Apollonius Dyscolns of Alexandria [Mirab. Hi