HUMBOLDT, FRIEDRICH HEmmen ALEXANDER, Baron von, one of the greatest of naturalists, and who has contributed more than any man of modern times to the prog ress of several departments of physical science, was b. at Berlin, Sept. 14, 1769. His father, whom he lost when he was not quite ten years of age, was chamberlain to the king of Prussia. He studied at the universities of Frankfort-on-the-Oder, Berlin, and Gottingen. His love of natural history was very strongly manifested at this period; and during his residence at Gottingen (178940), he made visits of scientific exploration to the Harz and the banks of the Rhine, the fruit of which was his first publication, On the Basalts of theRhine, etc. In the spring; and summer of 1790, lie accompanied George Fors ter in a tour through Belgium, Elolland,England, and France. In June,1791, he entered the mining academy at Freiberg, where he enjoyed the private instructions of Werner. His eight months' residence here led to the subsequent publication of his Flora Subterranea Fribergensis et Aphorismi cr Phoiologin (Berlin, 1703). He was after wards appointed to an office in the mining department, and spent same years in this capacity, chiefly at the Fichtelgebirge, in Upper Franconia. his researches here resulted in a work On the irritability of the Muscular and Nervous Fibers, with Conjectures regard ing the Chemical Process of Life in the Animal and VegetableWorld(Ueber die Gereizte, etc., 2 vols., Berlin, 1797-99).
The desire of visiting tropical countries, however, led him to resign his office, and devote himself entirely to the study of nature. He spent three months at Jena, where he was the intimate associate of Goethe and Schiller, and studied anatomy under Loder, Circumstances now led him to Paris, where he contracted a friendship with a distin guished young botanist, Aline Bonpland (q.v.), afterwards •his companion in many and various scenes. Some time after, he obtained permission from the Spanish government to visit all the Spanish settlements in America and the Indian ocean,with every additional favor which could promote his researches in the various departments' of natural science.
He sailed from Corunna along with Bonpland, on June 5, 1799. They visited Teneriffe, ascended the peak, and made many scientific observations. On July 16 they arrived at Cumana in South America, and in the course of five years explored a vast extent of ter ritory in Venezuela, Granada, Ecuador, and Peru, whence they sailed for Mexico, which they crossed from w. to east. On March 7, 180•, Humboldt sailed from Vera Cruz for Havana, where he spent two months, completing the preparation of materials afterwards employed in his Essal Politique 3111' Ude de Cuba (Paris, 1826). From Havana lie pro ceeded by sea to Philadelphia, and thence to Bordeaux, where he arrived after a course of travels unparalleled for variety and importance of scientific results, not only in the different departments of natural history, but also in geography, statistics, and eth nograpliy.
Humboldt resided in Paris till March, 1805, occupied in the arrangement of his col lections and manuscripts, and jointly with Gay-Lussac in experiments on the chemical constitution of the atmosphere. Having visited Italy, and returned to Berlin, lie accom panied prince Wilhelm of Prussia in 1807 on a political mission to France, and obtained leave from the government of his own country to remain there, for the publication of his travels, for which the disturbed state of Germany at that time did not allow proper oppor tunity. Ile continued to reside in Paris till 1827. In 1807-17, his great work, embody ing the chief results of his travels, appeared in two forms, folio and quarto, in each consisting of 29 volumes, and containing 1425 copper-plates. The wish of the that he should reside in his native country was gratified in 1827, when lie proceeded to Berlin, and there, in the winter of 1827-28, he gave lectures on the Cosmos, or physical universe.