"The Shoulders of giants" - Humboldt's gift

As a world-renowned and famous naturalist, how did he live?

By Elizabeth Kolbert

In the eyes of Humboldt's many admirers, he dedicated his (all) love to the natural world. (A picture is attached here)

On September 14, 1869, alexander von Humboldt's centennial birthday celebration was held in New York, a city Where Humboldt had never set foot, with a parade to celebrate and pass the torch; a mayor's speech; a formal banquet, and the unveiling of the humboldt statue in the central park. On the 15th, Time Magazine used the entire front page of the newspaper to record the celebration in history. The unveiling ceremony was scheduled for two o'clock in the afternoon, but long before the appointed moment, newspapers recorded that "the crowds gathered like a tide," and that the moment the unveiling was completed, there were "at least twenty-five thousand spectators." Flags fluttered in front of government buildings, military bands played music, and families hung portraits of Humboldt. According to Time Magazine, the entire city "is shrouded in festive festivities." ”

Boston, another city never visited by Humboldt, was commemorated by Louis Agassiz with a two-hour speech by Louis Agassiz, to a large audience of (famous) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell and Oliver Wendell Lowell. Homer (oliver wendell holmes). After the speech, the crowd retreated to the "Garden hall," where Humboldt's coffin, covered with palm leaves, was exhibited, and in the words of a Time magazine reporter, "[then] an elegant refreshment was served." President Ulysses S. Grant attended the pittsburgh feast, while former President Miller Fillmore also hosted the faviour in Buffalo. Similar commemorative celebrations have been held in cities such as Albuquer, Chicago, Baltimore, Cleveland, Memphis and San Francisco. Humboldt fever swept melbourne and Moscow, not to mention Hamburg, Dresden and Frankfurt. In Berlin, Humboldt's homeland, 80,000 people appeared in the pouring rain to celebrate.

Where does this fanaticism come from? Nearly a century and a half later, it's hard to say, not because Humboldt's personal achievements (gradually) withered, but because he accomplished so much. In 1802, in the territory of present-day Ecuador, Humboldt climbed Mount Chimborazo to an altitude of 19,400 feet. Mount Chimboraso was recognized as the highest peak in the world at the time, and the altitude of climbing 19,400 feet was truly unprecedented. (In fact, this mountain is not next to the world's highest peak, because the earth is a flat sphere, and its peak is naturally the farthest from the center of the earth.) Humboldt, then, was the edmund hillary of his time. In the sense of the French Revolution, Humboldt was both a naturalist and an inventor, a prolific writer and a Republican. Humboldt's many books are world bestsellers, and his account of adventures in South America inspired many of the biggest figures (later generations) such as Charles Darwin and Simón bolívar. The two men called Humboldt "the discoverer of the New World." As one of Humboldt's translators put it, "Humboldt is the only one who can live such a life and write so many books." ”

Humboldt was 89 years old when he died. In a period of increasing specialization in the field, in the Victorian era when romance prevailed, Humboldt as an all-rounder was already anachronistic. Those who had been enlightened by him quickly overshadowed his limelight. Just a few months after his funeral, in May 1859, On the Origin of Species was published. It subverted Humboldt's worldview, and his writings began to become extinct. (I went to my nearest university library and tried to search for a few of Humboldt's more than 30 publications, but all I could find on my shelves was a book published in 1853, covered in dust.) As Humboldt's bicentennial birthday drew to a close, he was almost forgotten, at least in native English-speaking countries.

Towards the end of another century of his birth, a new biography was published, Natural Discoveries: The New World of Alexander von Humboldt (Norf Press), written by André Woolf. Woolf was a writer and historian who lived in England. Woolf argues that Humboldt's long life and many major events are worth facing. In fact, she also insisted that the more the world Humboldt explored was damaged, the more closely relevant his thoughts became.

Alexander von Humboldt was born into a wealthy family in Prussia during the time of Frederick the Great, and from an early age he hated the decent life of high society. Instead of studying various subjects (compulsory for the upper class), as his obedient brother did, he wandered among the trees, collecting a variety of plants and insects. His parents used to laugh and call him a "little pill." Whenever he wrote a letter from the family manor schloss tegel, Humboldt would end with the words "schloss langweil"— "A boring castle." ”

In his early twenties, Humboldt became acquainted with Georg Forster, a German who had traveled to Tahiti with Captain Cook. Foster took Humboldt to London and introduced him to the naturalist Joseph Banks. Joseph Banks has also sailed to sea with Captain Cook and has the world's largest collection of herbariums. On the way back, the two lingered in Paris, which was busy preparing for the first anniversary of the "Capture of the Bastille". Fascinated by travel, by botany, and by change, Humboldt was determined to embark on an adventure like Captain Cook's. But Humboldt had already lost his father, and his mother had no intention of sponsoring his adventures. She wanted her son to pursue a career, and as a compromise, Humboldt agreed to study mining.

For the next five years, Humboldt became a mine inspector in the Prussian government. Disappointed with what had happened to him, he started a mining school at his own expense. He also invented a new type of dust mask, designed a better safety lighting lamp, and published a book about the local flora. At the same time, he began to experiment, even (at the expense) of himself as the object of experimentation. Luigi galvani once powered animals on and made their muscles beat. Humboldt was so interested in this that he cut open his back and connected a wire to the wound. In the course of these horrific experiments—Humboldt recalls, he embarked on a "great escape from hell"—he was one step closer to the invention of the first battery. But he neglected to summarize the main points from his work, and the battery was not invented, but was soon after, it was preempted by Alessandro Volta. According to Douglas Botting in his 1973 biography Humboldt and the Universe, he "will be hated for eternity." ”

In 1796, Humboldt lost his mother. He stepped out of his mother's opposition and also inherited an inheritance. Soon after, Humboldt signed a voyage around the world, at the risk of the (then) French government. However, the French government decided to go to war with Austria, which was a matter of burning money, so the voyage was eventually cancelled. Next, Humboldt marched to Madrid, where he held a secret meeting with King Carlos IV of Spain. Carlos's stupidity is well known. He still seemed to be fantasizing that sending a mining expert to the New World would add to his throne. Carlos gave Humboldt a "pass green card" to allow him to walk around the American colonies in Spain. Carrying 42 boxes of scientific instruments, including those used to measure the blueness of the sky, Humboldt set off. On the eve of the voyage, he wrote to a friend about discovering "natural unity." ”

A plan is not great, but it is also a plan. Humboldt wanted to sail to Havana, but typhoid fever broke out on board and he had to stop in Kumana, now Venezuela. Undaunted, Humboldt set out again through the vast plains of the eastern Andes, the South American steppes, where he was pleasantly surprised to find rivers full of electric eels. Naturally, he was determined to do another experiment. "If you're accidentally electrocuted by a healthy or energetic fish, the pain and numbness is extreme, and the feeling is indescribable," he observes.

Humboldt drove his canoe from the South American savannahs across the Apuli and Orinoco rivers, and the weather could drive people crazy and mosquitoes bite hard. "People who have not had the experience of sailing on the great rivers of the United States at the equator cannot imagine the constant, ceaseless torment (ordeal) of mosquitoes wreaking havoc in the air," Humboldt wrote. Still, he enjoyed it. Jaguars, tapirs and wild boars go downstream of rivers to drink water.

They are not afraid of people. We watched as they moved along the river, bouncing into the hedges until they disappeared deep into the jungle. I admit that these images that are constantly being played back (in my mind) appeal to me deeply. This pleasure stems not only from a naturalist's intense curiosity about the object of his study, but also from the common voice of all citizens, who have been educated by the customs of civilization. You will find yourself in a new world, an unmodified pristine nature... All species gather here and take turns to appear. "Es como en el paraíso" ("It's like heaven," says an elderly Indian pilot.

It had been a year and a half since europe, and Humboldt had finally arrived in Havana. He was planning to sail from there to Mexico, but the opportunity was once again a bubble. Humboldt learned in the newspaper that the French expedition he had longed to join had set off on its way to Australia. After speculating that the expedition would take a break in The City of Lima while crossing the Pacific, he decided to head to Lima to chase after the large force. This led to a 2,500-mile trek on his return voyage, (among them) through South America, Cartagena, and then through the Andes. Nine months later, when Humboldt arrived in quito, he learned that the French expedition had gone in the opposite direction and had reached the vicinity of the Cape of Good Hope. "Anyone else might be discouraged," Woolf wrote. Humboldt, however, responded by climbing Mount Chimborazo.

Humboldt spent five years in South America. Everywhere he went, he measured with his instruments, especially those things that had not disappeared from the Orinoco River and those things on the Andes that had not yet been trampled. These experiences led him to discover isotherms—the lines between points of the same temperature on the map—and also to discover the geomagnetic equator: the magnetic line (at the equator) parallel to the Earth's surface. By the end of the trip, Humboldt had collected more than 60,000 plant specimens, and believed that there was indeed an early Colombian civilization in South America, that there was a sinful system of slavery, and that he had a great responsibility to make them public.

"Only travelers who have witnessed the corruption of human nature can complain about the unfortunate arrival," Humboldt wrote. On his way back to Europe, he stayed in Washington, D.C., where he met President Thomas Jefferson. Humboldt, often referring to himself as "half American," was the greatest admirer of the earliest American experiment (in this case, the separation of church and state). But decades later, he was no longer obsessed with it. In the mid-19th century, Humboldt told Time magazine reporters in Germany, "I don't approve of the current politics of the United States. The influence of slavery was escalating, and I am afraid that the erroneous idea that blacks were inferior was spreading wildly. ”

The trip to South America cost Humboldt a lot of money, and publishing its discoveries cost the rest. After settling in Paris, Humboldt continued to write—about his personal experiences, the beauty he admired, the plants he had collected, and the politics and people of the Spanish colonies. (Humboldt was a "Pro-Frenchman" who wrote in French instead of his native language, German.) His books, like his travels, are full of energy, but they lack focus and deviate from the main line.

"You keep writing," Humboldt's friend and confidant, François Arago, an astronaut, told Humboldt. "But what is written is not a book, but more like a figure painting without a border." (Humboldt has always been single, and there is speculation that he is gay, though no one knows if or how much intimacy he has or is sexually related.) Humboldt hired a small group of artists and sculptors to show his work. As a result, commissions at the time were not generally expensive. In the U.S., a finished pair is worth $2,000 — $30,000 today. According to Bautin, "even Humboldt couldn't afford a complete set." ”

Humboldt struggled to write while continuing to explore the obscure "unity of nature." "He visited the naturalists Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Georges Cuvier at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, assisted Joseph Louis gay-lussa in his exploration of gas motion, and helped arago experiment at the Paris Meteorological Office." Humboldt raced through one meeting after another, over meal after meal," Woolf wrote. Sometimes, he attended five salons in one night. Humboldt was famous in Paris for his good looks, knowledge, and ability to talk. A pianist who was invited to the party and played for him once called the performance a highlight of his career. But as soon as he began to play, Humboldt "began to gush", never stopping throughout the song, and the pianist was dissatisfied.

By 1827, Humboldt had settled in Paris for more than twenty years. The King of Prussia, the nephew and grandson of the present Frederick the Great, demanded his return to Berlin. At that time, Humboldt still had to rely on the king's salary to pay for his daily expenses, and he had no choice but to agree. (Not without ridicule among his contemporaries, a great advocate of freedom who was willing to be a subject.) Humboldt returned to the city for only a few months and decided to give a lecture series on, well, all the subjects. He explained meteorology, geology, plant geography, ocean currents, as well as fossils, magnetism, astronomy, human migration, and poetics. The lecture was first held at the University of Berlin, and was held for the second time in the Concert Hall due to its great popularity. On the days humboldt gave his lectures, the audience swarmed into the hall, and there was a traffic jam nearby. [Someone] gave him a huge offer and asked him to give these speeches, but was rejected. He had to reorganize it, a process that took him twenty years. The publication of his first book, "The Great World", stirred up a thousand waves, and the second volume was even more reverberated. Booksellers in Hamburg and Vienna invited pirates to transport them to ensure the safety of their stocks. A few days before Humboldt's death, the fifth volume and the final chapter of The Great World were published.

Almost no one has studied Humboldt's books anymore. However, looking at his admirers, Humboldt never faded from view, although its causes varied from era to era. During the Weimar Republic, Humboldt was known as an advanced thinker. Later, during the Third Reich (Nazi regime), he became the explorer who established Germany's position in Latin America. In East Germany, he was a revolutionary pioneer representing ordinary miners. After the unification of Germany, Humboldt was redefined as a citizen of the world.

Humboldt's latest title is "Green Humboldt." Because Nicolaas Rupke, a natural science historian at Lee University in Washington, D.C., wrote it in Alexander von Humboldt: The Morphometer (2008), the "environmentalist Humboldt" is now "part of the narrative level." ”

This is what Andrey Woolf saw when Humboldt called attention. She mentioned that long before the chainsaws were introduced, Humboldt was a warning of the crisis of forest degradation. Moreover, in the early 19th century, he had already realized the close correlation between forest health and hydrogeography; he observed that once trees were cut down, the evaporation of the surface would increase and the area would dry out. "Because Humboldt described how humans changed the climate, he became the father of the environmental movement," Woolf wrote. In her view, Humboldt "discovered the idea of nature as we know it today—the vein of life." ”

Humboldt's love and obsession with the natural world is unmistakable. And that love inspired his writing and passed it on to many of his loyal fans. For example, when thoreau climbed Mount Wachusette, he claimed to be "accompanied by Humboldt" because he "measured more modern and the Andes." (Mount Wachusette is located north of the city of Worcester at 2,006 feet above sea level.) ）

Humboldt has recorded many things in poetry, and the Green Humboldt may reflect our priorities at least as much as his. One of Humboldt's many gifts was "self-knowledge." He realized that he had taught the world too little, and that in all his travels, experiments, books, and lectures, not a single great insight or discovery had been enough to change the human view of the universe. All he gives to the world is enthusiasm, and if this is called a weak foundation in the history of human thought, then the attraction is still there.

"Listening to him for an hour is better than reading a book for eight days," goethe, who regarded Humboldt as a friend, said of him. After Darwin finished his "Humboldt-style travelogue", the Diary of the Berger Voyage, he sent a copy of his idol with trepidation. "Your future is bright," the old man replied confidently.

"My life's help to science comes more from trying to get others to 'stand on my shoulders' and to be far-sighted, while I myself do almost nothing," Humboldt wrote as he ran out of oil. "I often think that even if my great curiosity about various sciences makes me make mistakes, then I have left my footprints on this path."