The Invention of Nature (56 page)

57 AH fascinated by indigenous people: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, p.532ff.

58 ‘barbarism of civilised man’: Ibid., vol.5, p.234.

59 ‘indolent indifference’: Ibid., vol.4, p.549, vol.5, p.256.

60 ‘chased by demons’: AH, March 1801, AH Diary 1982, p.176.

61 night in jungle: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.5, p.443.

62 ‘illuminated by the rays’: Ibid., pp.2, 218; AH Aspects 1849, vol.1, pp.216, 224, 231; AH Views 2014, pp.121, 126, 129; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.1, pp. 263, 276, 285.

63 ‘What speaks to the’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, p.134.

64 AH and Casiquiare: Ibid., vol.5, pp.399–400, 437, 442.

65 living ‘palisade’: Ibid., p.441.

66 Casiquiare and Orinoco: Ibid., p.448.

67 ‘had been invented’: AH, May 1800, AH Diary 2000, p.297.

68 Angostura: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.5, pp.691–2.

69 AH and Bonpland fever: Ibid., p.694ff.

70 animals in cages: Ibid., vol.6, p.7.

71 slow progress: Ibid., pp.2–3.

72 ‘Infinity of space’: Ibid., p.69.

73 rainy season Llanos: AH Aspects 1849, vol.1, p.19ff.; AH Views 2014, p.38ff.; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.1, p.29ff.

74 ‘air turned into’: AH, March 1800, AH Diary 2000, p.231. Although this is an entry for March, AH was referring here to his later experience in July, an entry that he added later.

75 ‘observed with astonishment’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.6, p.7.

76 feeling of ‘coolness’: Ibid., vol.4, p.334.

77 ‘spreads life around’: Ibid., vol.6, p.8.

78 ‘tree of life’: AH Views 2014, p.36; AH Aspects 1849, vol.1, pp.15, 181; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.1, p.23.

1 AH and Baudin: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.7, p.285; AH to Nicolas Baudin, 12 April 1801, Bruhns 1873, vol.1, p.292; AH to Carl Ludwig Willdenow, 21 February 1801, Biermann 1987, p.173; AH, Recollections during voyage from Lima to Guayaquil, 24 December 1802–4 January 1803, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, p.178; National Intelligencer and Washington Advertiser, 12 November 1800.

2 ‘the more I hastened’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.7, p.288.

3 ‘It was very uncertain’: AH to Carl Ludwig Willdenow, 21 February 1801, Biermann 1987, p.171.

4 divided collections: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.7, p.286.

5 ‘The science of two’: Joseph Banks to Jacques Julien Houttou de La Billardière, 9 June 1796, Banks 2000, p.171; see also Wulf 2008, pp.203–4.

6 seeds to Banks from Cumaná (footnote): AH to Banks, 15 November 1800, Banks to Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre, 4 January 1805, Banks 2007, vol.5, pp.63–4, 406.

7 happier and healthier: AH to Carl Ludwig Willdenow, 21 February 1801, Biermann 1987, p.175.

8 ‘and you, dearest’: AH to Christiane Haeften, 18 October 1800, AH Letters America 1993, p.109.

9 ‘When one is young’: AH, 24 December 1802–4 January 1803, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, p.178.

10 but ‘all difficulties’: AH, Recollections during voyage from Lima to Guayaquil, 24 December 1802–4 January 1803, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, p.178.

11 AH wanted to meet Mutis: Ibid.; AH, 23 June–8 July 1801, AH Diary 2003, vol.1, p.89ff.; AH to WH, 21 September 1801, AH WH Letters 1880, p.32.

12 ‘Mutis, so close!’: AH, 23 June–8 July 1801, AH Diary 2003, vol.1, pp.89–90.

13 ‘signposts’: AH, 19 April–15 June 1801, ibid., pp.65–6. ’

14 journey on Río Magdalena: Ibid., pp.67–78.

15 Honda: AH, 18–22 June 1801, ibid., p.78.

16 journey to Bogotá: AH, 23 June–8 July 1801, ibid., pp.85–9.

17 arrival Bogotá: AH to WH, 21 September 1801, AH WH Letters 1880, p.35; AH, November–December 1801, AH Diary 2003, vol.1, p.90ff (AH wrote this diary entry after they had left Bogotá).

18 Mutis’s drawing school: Holl 2009, p.161.

19 Mutis’s botanical library: AH to WH, 21 September 1801, AH WH Letters 1880, p.35.

20 Bonpland fever: AH, November–December 1801, AH Diary 2003, vol.1, p.91.

21 mules from Bogotá: AH, 8 September 1801, ibid., p.119.

22 porters carrying luggage: AH, 5 October 1801, ibid., p.135.

23 servant José: AH, 23 June–8 July 1801, ibid., p.85.

24 crossing Quindío Pass: AH Cordilleras 1814, vol.1, p.63ff.; AH Cordilleren 1810, vol.1, p.17ff.; Fiedler and Leitner 2000, p.170.

25 ‘These are the paths’: AH, 27 November 1801, see also AH, 5 October 1801, AH Diary 2003, vol.1, pp.131, 155.

26 ‘patchworked falling’: AH, 27 November 1801, ibid., p.151.

27 progress through Andes: AH, 14 September 1801, ibid., p.124; AH Cordilleras 1814, vol.1, p.64; AH Cordilleren 1810, vol.1, p.19.

28 condor ‘mirror-like’: AH, 22 December 1801, AH Diary 2003, vol.1, p.163.

29 flames from Pasto: AH, 19 December 1801, ibid., vol.2, p.45.

30 ‘I don’t get tired’: AH to WH, 21 September 1801, AH WH Letters 1880, p.27.

31 instruments over abyss: AH, 27 November 1801, AH Diary 2003, vol.1, p.155.

32 carrying and cost of barometer: Ibid., p.152; for José and barometer, see AH, 28 April 1802, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, p.83; for AH’s travel barometer, see Friedrich Georg Weitsch’s portrait of AH from 1806 (today in the Alte National Galerie in Berlin); Seeberger 1999, pp.57–61.

33 ‘Lucky are those’: Wilson 1995, p.296; AH, 19 April–15 June 1801, AH Diary 2003, vol.1, p.66.

34 arrival Quito: AH, Aus Meinem Leben (1769–1850), in Biermann 1987, p.101.

35 ‘since you belong to’: Goethe to AH, 1824, Goethe Encounters 1965–2000, vol.14, p.322.

36 ‘he never remained’: Rosa Montúfar, Beck 1959, p.24.

37 ‘a lost man’: AH to Carl Freiesleben, 21 October 1793, AH Letters 1973, p.280.

38 ‘undying’ and ’fervent: AH to Wilhelm Gabriel Wegener, 27 March 1789 and AH to Carl Freiesleben, 10 April 1792, ibid., pp.46, 180.

39 ‘I was tied to you’: AH to Reinhard von Haeften, 1 January 1796, ibid., p.477.

40 cried for hours: AH to Carl Freiesleben, 10 April 1792, ibid., p.180.

41 ‘My plans are subordinated’: AH to Reinhard von Haeften, 1 January 1796, ibid., pp.478–9.

42 a ‘good person’: AH to Carl Freiesleben, 4 June 1799, ibid., p.680.

43 ‘lack of true’: Adolph Kohut in 1871 about AH’s time in Berlin in 1805, Beck 1959, p.31.

44 ‘sleeping partner’: Quarterly Review, vol.14, January 1816, p.369.

45 ‘nothing will ever have’: CH to WH, 22 January 1791, WH CH Letters 1910–16, vol.1, p.372.

46 ‘sexual irregularities’: Theodor Fontane to Georg Friedländer, 5 December 1884, Fontane 1980, vol.3, p.365.

47 Humboldt’s ‘Adonis’: José de Caldas to José Celestino Mutis, 21 June 1802, Andress 2011, p.11; Caldas asked if he could join AH, Holl 2009, p.166.

48 ‘I don’t know sensual’: AH to Archibald Maclean, 6 November 1791; see also AH to Wilhelm Gabriel Wegener, 27 March 1789, AH Letters 1973, pp.47, 157.

49 ‘wild urges of’: AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.1, p.6: ‘vom wilden Drange der Leidenschaften bewegt ist’. The English translation was toned down to ‘passions of men’; see also AH to Archibald Maclean, 6 November 1791, AH Letters 1973, p.157.

50 José carried barometer: AH, 28 April 1802, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, p.83.

51 climbed Pichincha: AH climbed Pichincha three times; AH, 14 April, 26 and 28 May 1802, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, pp.72ff.; 85ff.; 90ff.; AH to WH, 25 November 1802, AH WH Letters 1880, p.45ff.

52 ‘No imagination would’: AH to WH, 25 November 1802, AH WH Letters 1880, p.46.

53 climbed Cotopaxi: AH, 28 April 1802, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, p.83ff.

54 ‘vault of Heaven’: AH Cordilleras 1814, vol.1, pp.121, 125; AH Cordilleren 1810, vol.1, pp.59, 62.

55 shape as created by wood turner: AH, 28 April 1802, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, p.81.

56 climbed Antisana: AH, 14–18 March 1802, ibid., p.57ff.

57 ‘ice needles’: Ibid., pp.57, 62.

58 ‘highest dwelling place’: Ibid., p.61.

59 AH sharing bed with Montúfar: Ibid., p.62.

60 almost 18,000 feet and Condamine: Ibid., p.65.

61 ‘deep wounds’ and ‘reason’: AH, 22 November 1799–7 February 1800, AH Diary 2000, p.179.

1 AH to Mexico: AH to WH, 25 November 1802, AH WH Letters 1880, p.54.

2 ‘monstrous colossus’: Ibid., p.48.

3 from Quito to Chimborazo: AH, 9–12 June and 12–28 June 1802, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, pp.94–104.

4 ‘exerts a mysterious’: AH, About an Attempt to Climb to the Top of Chimborazo, Kutzinski 2012, p.136.

5 AH’s 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, in Kutzinski 2012, pp.135–55; AH, 23 June 1802, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, pp.100–109.

6 cuchilla ridge: AH, About an Attempt to Climb to the Top of Chimborazo, Kutzinski 2012, p.140.

7 ‘was very dangerous’: AH, 23 June 1802, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, p.106.

8 boiling water: AH Geography 2009, p.120; AH Geography 1807, pp.1613.

9 19,413 feet (3036 toises): AH, 23 June 1802, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, p.106.

10 ‘to connect ideas’: WH to Karl Gustav von Brinkmann, 18 March 1793, Heinz 2003, p.19.

11 ‘a thousand threads’: Georg Gerland, 1869, Jahn 2004, p.19.

12 ‘resemblance which we’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.3, p.160; see also p.495; AH pointed out these connections again and again in his Essay on Plant Geography (1807) but also in AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.3, p.490ff.; AH Aspects 1849, vol.2, p.3ff.; AH Views 2014, p.155ff.; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.2, p.3ff.

13 alpine rose tree: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.3, p.453.

14 trees Mexico and Canada, Europe: AH Geography 2009, pp.65–6; AH Geography 1807, p.5ff.

15 everything connected: AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.1, p.xviii; AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.1, p.vi.

16 vegetation zones Andes: AH Geography 2009, p.77; AH Geography 1807, p.35ff.; AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.1, p.11; AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.1, p.12.

17 ‘a higher point of’: AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.1, p.40; AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.1, p.39.

18 ‘a single glance’: AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.1, p.11; for mountains inspiring AH, see also p.347; AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.1, p.12.

19 draft of Naturgemälde: AH Geography 2009, p.61; AH Geography 1807, p.iii; Holl 2009, pp.181–3 and Fiedler and Leitner 2000, p.234.

20 ‘microcosm on one page’: AH to Marc-Auguste Pictet, 3 February 1805, Dove 1881, p.103.

21 ‘Nature is a living whole’: AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.1, p.39, my translation (‘belebtes Naturganzes … Nicht ein todtes Aggregat ist die Natur’). The English translation is poor: ‘living connections’ doesn’t convey AH’s meaning, while the sentence about nature not being a dead aggregate is completely missing. AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.1, p.40.

22 ‘universal profusion’: AH Aspects 1849, vol.2, p.3; AH Views 2014, p.155; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.2, p.3.

23 ‘organic powers are’: AH Aspects 1849, vol.2, p.10; AH Views 2014, p.158; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.2, p.11.

24 ‘in their relation’: AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.1, p.41; AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.1, p.40.

25 Naturgemälde: The Naturgemälde was published in Humboldt’s Essay on the Geography of Plants (1807).

26 ‘unity in variety’: AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.1, p.48; AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.1, p.55, my translation (‘Einheit in der Vielheit’).

27 indigenous languages sophisticated: AH, 12 April 1803–20 January 1804, Mexico, AH Diary 1982, p.187; AH to WH, 25 November 1802, AH WH Letters 1880, pp.51–2.

28 ‘future, eternity, existence’: Ibid., p.52.

29 ancient manuscripts: Ibid., p.50.

30 old trees scarce: AH Aspects 1849, vol.2, p.268; AH Views 2014, p.268; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.2, p.319; see also AH, 23–28 July 1802, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, pp.126–30.

31 magnetic equator: AH, Abstract of Humboldt’s and Bonpland’s Expedition, end of June 1804, AH Letters USA 2004, p.507; Helferich 2005, p.242.

32 AH about Humboldt Current: Kortum 1999, pp.98–100; in particular AH to Heinrich Berghaus, 21 February 1840, p.98.

33 ‘observations from the’: AH Views 2014, p.244; AH Aspects 1849, vol.2, p.215; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.2, p.254.

34 ‘the seemingly obvious’: AH’s guide in Mexico City about AH, 1803, Beck 1959, p.26.

35 pockets full like a boy: Ibid., p.27.

36 Cotopaxi erupted: AH, 31 January–6 February 1803, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, p.182ff.

37 express messenger: Ibid., p.184.

38 AH heard Cotopaxi: AH Cordilleras 1814, vol.1, p.119; AH Cordilleren 1810, vol.1, p.58.

39 ‘I’m getting poorer day’: AH, 27 February 1803, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, p.190.

1 Description hurricane: AH, 29 April–20 May 1804, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, p.301ff.

2 AH close to death: Ibid., p.302.

3 AH in Mexico: AH, Aus Meinem Leben (1769–1850), in Biermann 1987 p.103.

4 reasons for AH to return to Europe: AH, Abstract of Humboldt’s and Bonpland’s Expedition, end of June 1804, AH Letters USA 2004, p.508.

5 like living on moon: AH to Carl Ludwig Willdenow, 29 April 1803, AH Letters America 1993, p.230.

6 ‘ideas of 1789’: AH Diary 1982, p.12.

7 ‘temple of liberty’: AH to Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, 3 January 1791, AH Letters 1973, p.118.

8 ‘understood the precious’: AH to Jefferson, 24 May 1804, Terra 1959, p.788.

9 ‘Your writings, your’: Ibid., p.787.

10 ‘having witnessed the’: AH to James Madison, 24 May 1804, ibid., p.796.

11 ‘straight as a gun’: Edmund Bacon about Jefferson, Bear 1967, p.71.

12 Jefferson’s grandchildren: In 1804, Jefferson had seven grandchildren: six from his daughter Martha (Anne Cary, Thomas Jefferson, Ellen Wayles, Cornelia Jefferson, Virginia Jefferson, Mary Jefferson) and one surviving grandchild from his late daughter Maria (Francis Wayles Eppes).

13 Jefferson playing with grandchildren: Margaret Bayard Smith about Jefferson, Hunt 1906, p.405; see also Edmund Bacon about Jefferson, Bear 1967, p.85.

14 Jefferson never idle: Edmund Bacon and Jefferson’s Memoir about Jefferson, Bear 1967, pp.12, 18, 72–8.

15 ‘most dangerous poison’: Jefferson to Martha Jefferson, 21 May 1787, TJ Papers, vol.11, p.370.

16 ‘malady of Bibliomanie’: Jefferson to Lucy Paradise, 1 June 1789, ibid., vol.15, p.163.