by Andrea Wulf
19 ‘illegal, unconstitutional and’: Joaquín Acosta, 24 March 1827, Acosta de Samper 1901, p.211.
20 ‘influence of slavery’: Rossiter Raymond, 14 May 1859; see also AH to Benjamin Silliman, 5 August 1851, AH to George Ticknor, 9 May 1858, AH Letters USA 2004, pp.291, 445, 572; and George Bancroft to Elizabeth Davis Bliss Bancroft, 31 December 1847, Beck 1959, p.235.
21 ‘estrangement from politics’: AH to Thomas Murphy, 20 December 1825, Bruhns 1873, vol.2, p.49.
22 ‘With knowledge comes thought’: AH to Friedrich Ludwig Georg von Raumer, 1851, Bruhns 1873, vol.2, p.125; similarly AH wrote in Cosmos that ‘knowledge is power’, AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.1, p.37; AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.1, p.36.
23 AH’s Cosmos lectures: AH to Johann Friedrich von Cotta, 1 March 1828, AH Cotta Letters 2009, pp.159–60; CH to Alexander von Rennenkampff, December 1827, Karl von Holtei to Goethe, 17 December 1827, Carl Friedrich Zelter to Goethe, 28 January 1828, AH Cosmos Lectures 2004, pp.21–3; see also p.12; Ludwig Börne 22 February 1828, Clark and Lubrich 2012, p.80; WH to August von Hedemann, 10 January 1828, WH CH Letters 1910–16, vol.7, p.326.
24 WH about Cosmos lectures: WH to August von Hedemann, 10 January 1828, WH CH Letters 1910–16, vol.7, p.325.
25 crowds and police: Ludwig Börne, 22 February 1828, Clark and Lubrich 2012, p.80
26 ‘jostle is frightful’: Fanny Mendelssohn Bartholdy to Karl Klingemann, 23 December 1827, AH Mendelssohn Letters 2011, p.20.
27 ‘listen to a clever word’: Ibid.
28 ‘The gentlemen might scoff’: Ibid.
29 ‘twice the width of’: Carl Friedrich Zelter to Goethe, 7 February 1828; Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy to Karl Klingemann, 5 February 1828, AH Mendelssohn Letters 2011, pp.20–21.
30 AH’s gentle voice: Roderick Murchison, May 1859, Beck 1959, p.3.
31 ‘entire great Naturgemälde’: CH to Rennenkampff, 28 January 1828, AH Cosmos Lectures 2004, p.23.
32 AH’s lecture notes: See for example, Stabi Berlin NL AH, gr. Kasten 12, Nr. 16 and gr. Kasten 13, Nr. 29.
33 his ‘new method’: Spenersche Zeitung, 8 December 1827, Bruhns 1873, vol.2, p.116.
34 ‘The listener’: Vossische Zeitung, 7 December 1827, ibid., p.119
35 ‘I have never heard’: Christian Carl Josias Bunsen to Fanny Bunsen, ibid., p.120.
36 extraordinary clarity: Gabriele von Bülow to Heinrich von Bülow, 1 February 1828, AH Cosmos Lectures 2004, p.24.
37 ‘wonderful depth’: CH to Adelheid Hedemann, 7 December 1827, WH CH Letters 1910–16, vol.7, p.325.
38 a ‘new epoch’: Spenersche Zeitung, 8 December 1827, AH Cosmos Lectures 2004, p.16.
39 Cotta and lectures: AH to Heinrich Berghaus, 20 December 1827, AH Berghaus Letters 1863, vol.1, pp.117–18.
40 outings, excursions and meetings: Engelmann 1969, pp.16–18; AH, Opening Speech German Association of Naturalists and Physicians, 18 September 1828, Bruhns 1873, vol.2, p.135.
41 ‘Without a diversity’: AH, Opening Speech German Association of Naturalists and Physicians, 18 September 1828, Bruhns 1873, vol.2, p.134.
42 an ‘eruption of nomadic’: AH to Arago, 29 June 1828, AH Arago Letters 1907, p.40.
43 pure ‘oxygen’: Carl Friedrich Gauß to Christian Ludwig Gerling, 18 December 1828; see also AH to Carl Friedrich Gauß, 14 August 1828, AH Gauß Letters 1977, pp.34, 40.
44 Goethe envious and requesting details: Goethe to Varnhagen, 8 November 1827, Goethe Correspondence 1968–76, vol.4, p.257; Carl Friedrich Zelter to Goethe, 7 February 1828, AH Mendelssohn Letters 2011, p.21; Karl von Holtei to Goethe, 17 December 1827, AH Cosmos Lectures 2004, p.21.
45 had ‘always accompanied’: Goethe to AH, 16 May 1821, Goethe Correspondence 1968–76, vol.3, p.505.
46 AH’s letters invigorating: Goethe to AH, 24 January 1824, Bratranek 1876, p.317; AH to Goethe, 6 February 1806, Goethe Correspondence 1968–76, vol.2, p.559; Goethe, 16 March 1807, 30 December 1809, 18 January 1810, 20 June 1816, Goethe Diary 1998–2007, vol.3, pt. 1, p.298; vol.4, pt.1, pp.100, 111; vol.5, pt.1, p.381; AH to Goethe, 16 April 1821, Goethe AH WH Letters 1876, p.315; Goethe, 16 March 1823, 3 May 1823, 20 August 1825, Goethe’s Day 1982–96, vol.7, pp.235, 250, 526.
47 everybody lived too far apart: Goethe to Johannn Peter Eckermann, 3 May 1827, Goethe Eckermann 1999, p.608.
48 ‘on my isolated path’: Ibid., p.609.
49 AH’s change from Neptunist to Vulcanist: Pieper 2006, pp.76–81; Hölder 1994, pp.63–73.
50 ‘a single volcanic furnace’: AH Aspects 1849, vol.2, p.222; AH Views 2014, p.247; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.2, p.263; see also AH, ‘Über den Bau und die Wirkungsart der Vulcane in den verschiedenen Erdstrichen’, 24 January 1823, and Pieper 2006, p.77ff.
51 examples graphic and terrifying: AH Aspects 1849, vol.2, pp.222–3; AH Views 2014, p.248; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.2, pp.263–4.
52 ‘a subterranean force’: AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.1, p.285; AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.1, p.311; see also AH Geography 2009, p.67; AH Geography 1807, p.9.
53 like ‘savages’: Goethe to Carl Friedrich Zelter, 7 November 1829, Goethe Correspondence 1968–76, vol.4, p.350.
54 It was ‘absurd’: Goethe, 6 March 1828, Goethe’s Day 1982–96, vol.8, p.38.
55 ‘rigid and proud’: Goethe to Carl Friedrich Zelter, 5 October 1831, Goethe Correspondence 1968–76, vol.4, p.454. 000 ‘cerebral system’: Ibid
56 ‘I appear to myself’: Goethe to WH, 1 December 1831, Goethe Correspondence 1968–76, vol.4, p.462.
57 ‘I know where my happiness’: AH to WH, 5 November 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.207.
58 ‘work together scientifically’: AH, Aus Meinem Leben (1769–1850), in Biermann 1987, p.116.
59 ‘the mysterious and wonderful’: WH to Karl Gustav von Brinkmann, Geier 2010, p.282.
60 ‘language was the formative’: WH 1903–36, vol.7, pt.1, p.53; see also vol.4, p.27.
61 ‘image of an organic’: Ibid., vol.7, pt.1, p.45.
62 to India through Russia: AH to Alexander von Rennenkampff, 7 January 1812, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.62.
63 Cancrin’s request for information from AH: Cancrin to AH, 27 August 1827, ibid., p.67ff.; Beck 1983, p.21ff.
64 ‘most burning desire’: AH to Cancrin, 19 November 1827, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.76.
65 ‘the sweetest images’: AH to Cancrin, 19 November 1827, ibid.
66 AH confirms his vitality: AH to Cancrin, 10 January 1829, ibid., p.88.
67 Tsar invites AH to Russia: Cancrin to AH, 17 December 827, ibid., pp.78–9.
Chapter 16: Russia
1 AH left Berlin: Beck 1983, p.35.
2 plants, landscape and animals in Siberia: AH to WH, 21 June 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.138; Rose 1837–42, vol.1, p.386ff.
3 more or less ‘ordinary’: AH to WH, 21 June 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.138.
4 ‘not as delightful’: Ibid.
5 ‘life in wild nature’: AH to Cancrin, 10 January 1829, ibid., p.86.
6 fast coaches: Beck 1983, p.76.
7 sleeping in carriage: AH to WH, 8 June and 21 June 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, pp.132, 138
8 Count Polier: AH to WH, 8 June 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.132; Beck 1983, p.55.
9 AH’s equipment: Cancrin to AH, 30 January 1829; AH to Ehrenberg, March 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, pp.91, 100; Beck 1983, p.27.
10 ‘loving and affectionate’: CH to August von Hedemann, 17 March 1829, WH CH Letters 1910–16, vol.7, p.342; for CH’s death, see Gall 2011, pp.379–80.
11 AH had to avoid war zone: AH to Michail Semënovic Voroncov, 19 May 1829 and AH to Cancrin, 10 January 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, pp.86, 119.
12 ‘advancement of the’: Cancrin to AH, 30 January 1829, ibid., p.93.
13 Russia, manufacturing and ores: Suckow 1999, p.162.
14 AH and diamonds: AH to Cancrin, 15 September 1829 and 5 November 1829; AH to WH, 21 November 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, pp.185, 204–5, 220. It was the sandston
e Itacolumite that indicated diamonds. AH later also correctly predicted gold, platinum and diamonds in South Carolina – and in California.
15 AH and magnifying glass: AH Fragments Asia 1832, p.5.
16 ‘crazy Prussian prince’: Cossack in Perm, June 1829, Beck 1959, p.103.
17 Polier and diamonds: Polier to Cancrin, Report about diamonds, Rose 1837–42, vol.1, p.356ff.; Beck 1983, p.81ff.; AH to WH, 21 November 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.220.
18 thirty-seven diamonds in Russia: Beck 1959–61, vol.2, p.117.
19 AH’s predictions like magic: Beck 1983, p.82.
20 ‘true El Dorado’: AH to Cancrin, 15 September 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.185.
21 ‘to bring the laments’: AH Cuba, 2011, pp.142–3.
22 ‘poorer provinces’: AH to Cancrin, 10 January 1829; for Cancrin’s reply, see Cancrin to AH, 10 July 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, pp.86, 93.
23 ‘conditions of the lower’: AH to Cancrin, 17 July 1829, ibid., p.148.
24 Yekaterinburg: Beck 1983, p.71ff.
25 ‘like an invalid’: AH to WH, 21 June 1829, see also 8 June and 14 July 1829, ibid., pp.132, 138, 146.
26 reached Tobolsk: Rose 1837–42, vol.1, p.487.
27 ‘analogies and contrasts’: AH Central Asia 1844, vol.1, p.2.
28 ‘small extension’: AH to Cancrin, 23 July 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.153.
29 ‘his death’: Ibid., p.154
30 Cancrin received AH’s letter: Cancrin to AH, 18 August 1829, ibid., p.175.
31 ‘without any sign’: Gregor von Helmersen, September 1828, Beck 1959, p.108.
32 Siberian steppes: Rose 1837–42, vol.1, pp.494–6.
33 leather masks: AH to Cancrin, 23 July 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.154; Rose 1837–42, pp.494–8; Beck 1983, p.96ff.
34 ‘sea voyage on land’ and travel speed: AH to WH, 4 August 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, pp.161, 163, and Suckow 1999, p.163.
35 anthrax epidemic: Rose 1837–42, vol.1, p.499; AH to WH, 4 August 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.161.
36 ‘At my age’: AH to Cancrin, 27 August 1829, ibid., p.177.
37 ‘traces of the pest’: Rose 1837–42, vol.1, p.500.
38 ‘clean the air’: Ibid.
39 storm at Obi River: Ibid., p.502; AH to WH, 4 August 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.162.
40 1,000 miles in nine days: Rose 1837–42, vol.1, p.502.
41 distances to Berlin and Caracas: AH to WH, 4 August 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.162.
42 saw Altai mountains: Rose 1837–42, vol.1, p.523
43 left baggage in Ust-Kamenogorsk: Ibid., p.580.
44 AH in cave: Ibid., p.589.
45 ‘covered the bottom’: Jermoloff about Ehrenberg, Beck 1983, p.122.
46 ‘real joy’: AH to Cancrin, 27 August 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.178.
47 vegetation Altai: Rose 1837–42, vol.1, pp.575, 590.
48 ‘mighty domes’: Ibid., p.577; for Belukha pp. 559, 595.
49 Altai and Belukha enticing: Ibid., p.594.
50 hot spring and earthquake: Ibid., p.597.
51 ‘My health’: AH to WH, 10 September 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.181.
52 description of AH at Baty: Rose 1837–42, vol.1, pp.600–606; AH to Arago, 20 August 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.170.
53 dressed in ‘rags’: AH to Arago, 20 August 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.170.
54 the ‘heavenly kingdom’: AH to WH, 13 August 1829, ibid., p.172.
55 route from Altai: Beck 1983, p.120ff; AH to WH, 10 and 25 September 1829, pp.181, 188.
56 Lenin’s maternal grandfather: Ibid., p.128.
57 ‘Thirty years ago’: AH to Cancrin, 15 September 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.184.
58 detour to Caspian Sea: AH to Cancrin, 26 September 1829, ibid., p.191; see also AH, Aspects, vol.2, p.300; AH Views 2014, p.283; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.2, p.363.
59 Cancrin kept AH up to date: Cancrin to AH, 31 July 1829 and 18 August 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, pp.158, 175.
60 reasons for detour: AH to WH, 25 September 1829, ibid., p.188.
61 ‘peace outside the gates’: AH to Cancrin, 21 October 1829, ibid., p.200.
62 Astrakhan and Caspian Sea: Rose 1837–42, vol. 2, p.306ff.; Beck 1983, p.147ff.
63 AH to scientists in St Petersburg: AH, Speech at Imperial Academy of Science, St Petersburg, 28 November 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, pp.283–4.
64 AH and Caspian Depression: AH Fragments Asia 1832, p.50.
65 ‘highlights of my life’: AH to WH, 14 October 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.196.
66 AH’s experiences in Russia: For mare’s milk, see AH to WH, 25 September 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.188; for Kalmyk choir, see Rose 1837–42, vol.2, p.344; for antelopes, snakes and fakir, see AH to WH, 10 September and 21 October 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, pp.181, 199; Rose 1837–42, vol.2, p.312; for thermometer and copy of Essay, see Beck 1983, pp.113, 133; for Siberian food, see AH to Friedrich von Schöler, 13 October 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.193.
67 ‘lack of timber’: AH to Cancrin, 21 June 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.136.
68 considerable desiccation: AH Fragments Asia 1832, p.27.
69 ‘connections which linked’: AH Central Asia 1844, vol.1, p.27.
70 destruction of forests: Ibid., p.26; see also vol.1, p.337 and vol.2, p.214; AH Fragments Asia 1832, p.27.
71 ‘great masses of steam’: Ibid., vol.2, p.214.
72 ‘questionable’ (footnote): AH Central Asia 1844, vol.1, p.337.
73 distances and horses used: Bruhns 1873, vol.1, p.380; Suckow 1999, p.163.
74 AH’s health: AH to Cancrin, 5 November 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.204.
75 parties in Moscow and St Petersburg: Alexander Herzen, November 1829, Bruhns 1873, vol.1, pp.384–6; AH to WH, 21 November 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, pp.219–20.
76 ‘Prometheus of our days’: Sergei Glinka, Bruhns 1873, vol.1, p.385.
77 ‘Captivating speeches’: Pushkin in 1829, recounted by Georg Schmid in 1830, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.251.
78 ‘I’m almost collapsing’: AH to WH, 21 November 1829, ibid., p.219.
79 AH asked tsar to pardon exiles: AH to Tsar Nicholas I, 7 December 1829, ibid., p.233.
80 ‘mysterious march’: AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.1, p.167; AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.1, p.185.
81 ‘reveal to us’: Report on letter from AH to Royal Society, 9 June 1836, Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, vol.3, 1830–37, p.420 (Humboldt had written the letter in April 1836).
82 magnetic hut 1827: Biermann und Schwarz 1999a, p.187.
83 ‘great confederation’: Report on letter from AH to Royal Society, 9 June 1836, Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, vol.3, 1830–37, p.423; see also O’Hara 1983, pp.49–50.
84 almost two million observations: AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.1, p.178; AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.1, p.197.
85 ‘economy of nature’: AH, Speech at Imperial Academy of Sciences, St Petersburg, 28 November 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.277; for AH’s call for global climate studies see p.281.
86 AH returned money: AH to Cancrin, 17 November 1829, ibid., p.215; Beck 1983, p.159.
87 ‘natural history cabinet’: AH to Theodor von Schön, 9 December 1829; for vase and sable, see AH to WH, 9 December 1829, AH Letters Russia 2009, p.237.
88 looked rather ‘picturesque’: AH to Cancrin, 24 December 1829, ibid., p.257.
89 ‘contradictory theories’: Ibid.
90 ‘steaming like a pot’: Carl Friedrich Zelter to Goethe, 2 February 1830, Bratranek 1876, p.384.
Chapter 17: Evolution and Nature
1 ‘wretchedly out of spirits’: Darwin, 30 December 1831, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.18.
2 Darwin seasick: Darwin, 29 December 1831, ibid., pp.17–18; Darwin to Robert Darwin, 8 February–1 March 1832, Darwin Correspondenc
e, vol.1, p.201.
3 poop cabin: Thomson 1995, p.124ff.; HMS Beagle sketch of poop cabin by B.J. Sulivan, CUL DAR.107.
4 Darwin’s books on Beagle: Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, Appendix IV, pp.558–66.
5 Darwin on Lyell: Darwin 1958, p.77.
6 ‘You are of course’ (footnote): Robert FitzRoy to Darwin, 23 September 1831, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.167.
7 ‘My admiration of his’: Darwin to D.T. Gardner, August 1874, published in New York Times, 15 September 1874.
8 passed Madeira: Darwin, 4 January 1832, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.19; Darwin to Robert Darwin, 8 February–1 March 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.201.
9 ‘for cheering the heart’: Darwin, 31 December 1831, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.18.
10 ‘Oh misery, misery’: Darwin, 6 January 1832, ibid., p.19; see also Darwin to Robert Darwin, 8 February–1 March 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.201.
11 ‘Already can I understand’: Darwin, 6 January 1832, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.20; see also Darwin to Robert Darwin, 8 February–1 March 1832, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, pp.201–2.
12 ‘like parting from a’: Darwin, 7 January 1832, Darwin Beagle Diary 2001, p.20.
13 ‘wildest Castles’: Darwin, 17 December 1831, ibid., p.14.
14 ‘subsist with some comfort’: Darwin 1958, p.46.
15 Darwin at university: Ibid., p.56ff.
16 Darwin and beetles: Ibid., pp.50, 62.
17 ‘stirred up in me a’: Darwin wrote that he read AH’s Personal Narrative ‘during my last year in Cambridge’, Darwin 1958, p.67–8
18 Darwin, Henslow and reading aloud: Ibid., pp.64ff., 68; Browne 2003a, pp.123, 131; Thomson 2009, pp.94, 102; Darwin to Fox, 5 November 1830, Darwin Correspondence vol.1, p.110.
19 ‘I talk, think, &’: Darwin to William Darwin Fox, 7 April 1831, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, p.120.
20 ‘I cannot hardly sit’: Darwin to Caroline Darwin, 28 April 1831; see also Darwin to William Darwin Fox, 11 May 1831 and 9 July 1831, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, pp.122, 123, 124; Darwin 1958, pp.68–70.
21 ‘gaze at the Palm trees’: Darwin to Caroline Darwin, 28 April 1831, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, pp.122.
22 ‘read and reread Humboldt’: Darwin to John Stevens Henslow, 11 July 1831, Darwin Correspondence, vol.1, pp.125–6.