Humble-plant

(Bot.) See MIMOSA. Humboldt, FRIED RICH HE IN RICH ALEXANDER, BARON VON, an eminent German scientist and traveller, was B. in Berlin, 1769. After studying at Frankfort-on-theOder, Göttingen, and Freyburg, he became director gen. of the mines of Anspach in 1792, which office he held for abt. 4 years. He had already made a considerable reputation as a writer on science, when in 1799 he started with Bonpland for S. America, and occupied 4 years in the exploration of that continent, and about ayear more in investigating the natural history, ., of Mexico. After his return to Europe in 1804, he pa ed a period of 20 years in Paris, and was there admitted into the Institute. In 1829, H. made a scientific exploration of Central Asia, and during the 18 years following was engaged in diplomatic affairs on behalf of the Pru ian govt. D. in Berlin, 1859. So numerous and various are the published works of this great savant, that in this place abrief retrospect of the principal ones only can be given.. They comprise a Journey to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent; General Physics and Geology; On the Geographical Distribution of Plants according to the Temperature and Altitude; Central Asia; Researches on the Chains of Mountains and the Comparative Climatology; Aspects of Nature; and, lastly, what is commonly esteemed his masterpiece, Kosmos-E ay of a Physical Description of the Universe-written in his 74th year.- His brother, KARL WILHELM, BARON VON H., an eminent statesman and philologer, B. 1767, be came the friend and literary counsellor of Schiller and Göthe; Pru ian minister at Rome (1802); and minister of Public Instruction in Pru ia, 1808-10, during his tenure of which office he largely aided in the establishment of Berlin University. He represented Pru ia at the Congre of Vienna, 1814; was amba ador to England in 1816; and appointed minister of state and privy councillor in 1819. D. 1835. As a critic and scientific author, H. has been styled the " creator of comparative philology." His works include an E ay on the Greeks; a Memoir on Comparative Linguistics; and Researches on the Aborigines of Spain by Means of the Basque Language. [s. 465]