The Invention of Nature (59 page)

17 ‘sulking like a child’: Adolphe Quetelet, 1822, Bruhns 1873, vol.2, p.58.

18 ‘Siamese twins’: AH to Arago, 31 December 1841, AH Arago Letters 1907, p.224.

19 ‘joy of my life’: AH to Arago, 31 July 1848, ibid., p.290.

20 ‘You know his passion’: WH to CH, 1 November 1817, WH CH Letters 1910–16, vol.6, p.30.

21 ‘Alexander could have’: WH to CH, 14 January 1809, ibid., vol.3, p.70.

22 WH and his patriotic duty: Geier 2010, p.272.

23 ‘stopped being German’: WH to CH, 3 December 1817, WH CH Letters 1910–16, vol.6, p.64; see also WH to CH, 6 December 1813 and 8 November 1817, ibid., vol.4, p.188 and vol.6., pp.43–4.

24 AH no intentions to go to Berlin: WH to CH, 10 July 1810, ibid., vol.3, p.433.

25 ‘You are interested in botany’: Napoleon to AH, recounted by Goethe to Friedrich von Müller, Müller Diary, 28 May 1825, Goethe AH WH Letters 1876, p353.

26 ‘opinion cannot be bent’: Humboldt Commemorations, 2 June 1859, Journal of American Geological and Statistical Society, 1859, vol.1, p.235.

27 AH sent publications to Napoleon: Podach 1959, pp.198, 201–2.

28 ‘hates me’: AH after an audience with Napoleon, 1804, Beck 1959–61, vol.2, p.2.

29 scientists as politicians in France: Serres 1995, p.431.

30 Description de l’Egypte and AH: Krätz 1999a, p.113.

31 Napoleon read AH’s books: Beck 1959–61, vol.2, p.16.

32 secret police, bribed valet, room searched: Daudet 1912, pp.295–365; Krätz 1999a, p.113.

33 undercover report: George Monge’s report, 4 March 1808: Podach 1959, p.200.

34 Napoleon, AH and Chaptal: Podach 1959, p.200ff.

35 breakfast Café Procope: Carl Vogt, January 1845, Beck 1959, p.207.

36 ‘chez Monsieur de Humboldt’: Bruhns 1873, vol.2, p.89.

37 ‘idol of Paris society’: George Ticknor, April 1817, AH Letters USA 2004, p.516.

38 AH everywhere: Konrad Engelbert Oelsner to Friedrich August von Stägemann, 28 August 1819, Päßler 2009, p.12.

39 ‘at home on every’: John Thornton Kirkland, 28 May 1821, Beck 1959, p.69.

40 ‘drunken with his love’: Caspar Voght, 16 March 1808, Voght 1959–65, vol.3, p.95.

41 AH met artists and thinkers: Krätz 1999a, pp.116–17; Clark and Lubrich 2012, pp.10–14.

42 ‘layer of ice’: Fräulein von R., October–November 1812, Beck 1959, p.42.

43 AH’s gentle voice: Roderick Murchison, May 1859, ibid., p.3.

44 ‘will-o’-the-wisp’: Karoline Bauer, My Life on Stage, 1876, Clark and Lubrich 2012, p.199.

45 ‘thin, elegant and nimble’: Ibid.

46 ‘sluice’ of words: Carl Vogt, January 1845, Beck 1959, p.208.

47 ‘tired the ears’: WH to CH, 30 November 1815, WH CH Letters 1910–16, vol.5, p.135.

48 ‘overcharged instrument’: Heinrich Laube, Laube 1875 p.334.

49 ‘actually thinking out loud’: Wilhelm Foerster, Berlin 1855, Beck 1959, p.268.

50 people worried leaving party: Adolphe Quetelet, 1822, Bruhns 1873, vol.2, p.58.

51 AH like a meteor: Karl August Varnhagen von Ense, 1810, Varnhagen 1987, vol.2, p.139

52 AH and cuneiform script: Karl Gutzkow, Beck 1969, pp.250–51

53 AH free of prejudice: Johann Friedrich Benzenberg, 1815, ibid., p.259.

54 Parisians and war: Horne 2004, p.195.

55 population Paris: Marrinan 2009, p.284.

56 ‘the beginning of the’: Talleyrand, in Horne 2004, p.202.

57 allied troops in Paris: Horne 2004, p.202; John Scott, 1814, Scott 1816, p.71.

58 ‘pinched at the waist’: Benjamin Robert Haydon, May 1814, Haydon 1950, p.212.

59 ‘curse within his teeth’: Ibid.

60 AH’s second fatherland: AH to Jean Marie Gerando, 2 December 1804, Geier 2010, p.248; AH to François Guizot, October 1840, Päßler 2009, p.25.

61 AH wrote to Madison: AH to James Madison, 26 August 1813, Terra 1959, p.798.

62 AH more French than German: WH to CH, 9 September 1814, WH CH Letters, vol.4, p.384.

63 ‘fits of melancholy’: AH to CH, 24 August 1813, Bruhns 1873, vol.2, p.52.

64 ‘honour’ of his people: AH to Johann Friedrich Benzenberg, 22 November 1815, Podach 1959, p.206.

65 AH used contacts to save Jardin: Podach 1959, pp.201–2; Winfield Scott to James Monroe, 18 November 1815. Monroe forwarded this letter to Jefferson, James Monroe to Jefferson, 22 January 1816, TJ RS Papers, vol.9, p.392.

66 art packed up in Louvre: John Scott, 1815, Scott 1816, p.328ff.

67 Bladgen in Paris: Charles Bladgen Diary, 5 February 1815, Ewing 2007, p.275.

68 Davy in Paris 1813: Ayrton 1831, pp.9–32.

69 Davy at Royal Institution: Holmes 1998, p.71.

70 ‘enlarge my stock’: Coleridge in 1802, Holmes 2008, p.288.

71 ‘creative source’: Humphry Davy in 1807, ibid., p.276.

72 ‘My view of the world’: AH to Goethe, 1 January 1810, Goethe Humboldt Letters 1909, p.305.

1 Bolívar, ‘My Delirium on Chimborazo’, 1822: Clark and Lubrich 2012, pp.67–8.

2 AH, Bolívar and revolutions: AH to Bolívar, 29 July 1822, Minguet 1986, pp.749–50; AH to Bolívar, 1804, Beck 1959, pp.30–31; AH to Daniel F. O’Leary, 1853, Beck 1969, p.266; Vicente Rocafuerte to AH, 17 December 1824, Rippy and Brann 1947, p.702; Bolívar and Enlightenment: Lynch 2006, pp.28–32.

3 scientific journal: This was Semanario. AH ‘Geografía de las plantas, o cuadro físico de los Andes equinocciales y de los países vecinos’, Caldas 1942, vol.2, pp.21–162.

4 ‘With his pen’: Bolívar to AH, 10 November 1821, Minguet 1986, p.749.

5 ‘stormy sea’: Bolívar, Message to the Convention of Ocaña, 29 February 1828, Bolívar 2003, p.87.

6 ‘ploughed a sea’: Bolívar to General Juan José Flores, 9 November 1830, ibid., p.146.

7 ‘the very heart of’: Bolívar, Speech to the Congress of Angostura, 15 February 1819, ibid., p.53.

8 ‘true lover of nature’: O’Leary 1879–88, vol.2, p.146, for love of country life see also p.71; and Arana 2013, p.292.

9 ‘My soul is dazzled’: Bolívar to José Joaquín Olmedo, 27 June 1825, Bolívar 2003, p.210.

10 Alps reminded Bolívar: O’Leary 1915, p.86; Arana 2013, p.61.

11 ‘fire that burned’: Bolívar, Manifesto to the Nations of the World, 20 September 1813, Bolívar 2003, p.121; Bolívar briefly returned to Europe in 1810 when he went to London on a diplomatic mission to drum up international support for the revolution.

12 weakened Spain and revolutions: Langley 1996, p.166ff.

13 Mexico and revolts: Langley 1996, p.179ff.

14 priest shouted at ‘sinners’: Arana 2013, p.109; see also Lynch 2006, p.59ff.

15 ‘If Nature itself’: José Domingo Díaz, 26 March 1812, Arana 2013, p.108.

16 population of Caracas: Royal Military Chronicle, vol.4, June 1812, p.181.

17 Bolívar fled country: Arana 2013, p.126.

18 ‘All these questions’: Jefferson to AH, 14 April 1811, TJ RS Papers, vol.3, p.554.

19 Jefferson about South American revolutions: Jefferson to Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, 15 April 1811; Jefferson to Tadeusz Kosciuszko, 16 April 1811; Jefferson to Lafayette, 30 November 1813, TJ RS Papers, vol.3, pp.560, 566; vol.7, pp.14–15; Jefferson to Lafayette, 14 May 1817, DLC.

20 ‘produce and commerce’: Jefferson to Luis de Onís, 28 April 1814, TJ RS Papers, vol.7, p.327.

21 Bolívar arrived in Cartagena: Arana 2013, p.128ff.

22 Bolívar reputedly using AH’s maps: Slatta and De Grummond 2003, p.22. Humboldt’s maps of the Río Magdalena were copied by several people including botanist José Mutis, cartographer Carlos Francisco de Cabrer and José Ignacio Pombo. AH, March 1804, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, p.42ff.

23 ‘Wherever the Spanish empire’: Bolívar, Speech to the people of Tenerife, 24 December 1812, Arana 2013, p.132.

24 like ‘gangrene’: Bolívar to Camilo Torres, 4 March 1813, ibid., p.138.

25 colonists’ disunity: Lynch 2006, p.67.

26 ‘locusts’ that destroyed: Bolívar, The Cartagena Manifesto, 15 December 1812, Bolívar 2003, p.10.

27 ‘March! Either you’: Bolívar to Francisco Santander, May 1813, Arana 2013, p.139.

28 ‘I must have 10,000’: Bolívar to Francisco Santander, 22 December 1819, Lecuna 1951, vol.1, p.215.

29 drafted constitution and delay for lovers: Arana 2013, pp.184, 222.

30 ‘poetry of motion’: Bolívar, Method to be employed in the education of my nephew Fernando Bolívar, c.1822, Bolívar 2003, p.206.

31 ‘ferocious’ when irritated: O’Leary 1969, p.30.

32 Bolívar’s printing press: Arana 2013, p.243.

33 Bolívar sharp and dictating: O’Leary 1969, p.30.

34 ‘I deliberated, reflected’: Arana 2013, p.244.

35 entered Mérida: Ibid., p.140ff.

36 ‘War to the Death’: Bolívar, Decree of War to the Death, 15 June 1813, Bolívar 2003, p.114; Langley 1996, p.187ff.; Lynch 2006, p.73.

37 ‘Your liberators have’: Bolívar, Proclamation of General of Army of Liberation, 8 August 1813, Lynch 2006, p.76.

38 ‘Legions of Hell’: Arana 2013, p.151.

39 Boves killed 80,000, Ibid., p.165; see also Lynch 2006, p.82ff.; Langley 1996, p.188ff.

40 ‘Towns that had’: Arana 2013, p.165.

41 ‘hatred of one caste’: AH to Jefferson, 20 December 1811, TJ RS Papers, vol.4, p.354.

42 Spanish armada: Arana 2013, pp.170–71; Langley 1996, p.191.

43 ‘The most beautiful half’: Bolívar to Lord Wellesley, 27 May 1815, Bolívar 2003, p.154.

44 ‘dominions of Spain’: James Madison, Proclamation Number 21, 1 September 1815, ‘Warning Against Unauthorized Military Expedition Against the Dominions of Spain’.

45 ‘among birds, beasts’: John Adams to James Lloyd, 27 March 1815, Adams 1856, vol.10, p.14.

46 ‘priest-ridden’ society: Jefferson to AH, 6 December 1813, TJ RS Papers, vol.7, p.29.

47 ‘enchained their minds’: Jefferson to Tadeusz Kosciuszko, 16 April 1811; see also Jefferson to Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, 15 April 1811, TJ RS Papers vol.3, pp.560, 566; Jefferson to Lafayette, 30 November 1813, ibid., vol.7, p.14.

48 AH’s influence ‘is greater than that’: Winfield Scott to James Monroe, 18 November 1815. Monroe forwarded this letter to Jefferson. James Monroe to Jefferson, 22 January 1816, ibid., vol.9, p.392.

49 ‘so shamefully unknown’: Jefferson to AH, 13 June 1817; see also 6 June 1809, Terra 1959, pp.789, 794.

50 Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain: First published in French (from 1808) but immediately followed by German (from 1809) and English editions (from 1811).

51 AH’s books for Jefferson: Jefferson to AH, 6 March 1809, 14 April 1811, 6 December 1813; AH to Jefferson, 12 June 1809, 23 September 1810, 20 December 1811; William Gray to Jefferson, 18 May 1811, TJ RS Papers, vol.1, pp.24, 266, vol.3, pp.108, 553, 623, vol.4, pp.353–4, vol.7, p.29.

52 ‘We have little knowledge’: Jefferson to AH, 6 December 1813, ibid., vol.7, p.30; see also Jefferson to AH, 13 June 1817, Terra 1959, p.794.

53 ‘what is practicable’: Jefferson to Lafayette, 14 May 1817, DLC.

54 ‘single mass they’: Jefferson to James Monroe, 4 February 1816, TJ RS Papers, vol.9, p.444.

55 Bolívar mentioned AH’s books: Bolívar, Letter from Jamaica, 6 September 1815, Bolívar 2003, p.12; for Bolívar’s library, see Bolívar 1929, vol.7, p.156.

56 ‘fatigue the attention’: John Black, Preface by the Translator, AH New Spain 1811, vol.1, p.v.

57 ‘independent sentiments’: AH to Jefferson, 23 September 1810, TJ RS Papers, vol.3, p.108.

58 Spanish incited hatred: AH New Spain 1811, vol.1, p.196.

59 ‘culpable fanaticism’: Ibid., p.178.

60 exploitation raw materials: Ibid., vol.3, p.456.

61 ruthless and suspicious: Ibid., p.455.

62 ‘abuse of power’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.3, p.3.

63 ‘freed from the fetters’: AH New Spain 1811, vol.3, p.390.

64 ‘European barbarity’: AH, 30 March 1801, AH Diary 2003, vol.1, p.55.

65 Humboldt’s knowledge encyclopaedic: Bolívar, Letter from Jamaica, 6 September 1815, Bolívar 2003, p.12.

66 ‘never satisfy the lust’: Ibid., p.20.

67 ‘entire provinces are’: Bolívar to Lord Wellesley, 27 May 1815, Bolívar 2003, p.154

68 AH and rich harvest: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.3, p.79.

69 ‘abundantly endowed’: Bolívar, Letter from Jamaica, 6 September 1815, Bolívar 2003, p.20.

70 AH and vices of feudal government: AH New Spain 1811, vol.3, p.101.

71 ‘a kind of feudal’: Bolívar, Letter from Jamaica, 6 September 1815, Bolívar 2003, p.20.

72 ‘the chains have’: Ibid., p.13.

73 for Pétion, Bolívar and slavery: Langley 1996, pp.194–7.

74 slavery as ‘daughter of darkness’: Bolívar, Speech to the Congress of Angostura, 15 February 1819, Bolívar 2003, p.34.

75 Bolívar declared freedom for slaves: Bolívar, Decree for the Emancipation of the Slaves, 2 June 1816, Bolívar 2003, p.177.

76 a ‘black veil’: Bolívar, Speech to the Congress of Angostura, 15 February 1819, Bolívar 2003, p.51.

77 Bolívar, his slaves, and constitution: Langley 1996, p.195; Lynch 2006, pp.151–3.

78 AH on Bolívar’s anti-slavery: AH to Bolívar, 28 November 1825, Minguet 1986, p.751. AH referred to Bolívar in AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.6, p.839; AH Cuba 2011, p.147.

79 José Antonio Páez: Langley 1996, pp.196–200; Arana 2013, p.194ff.

80 ‘Iron Ass’ and Bolívar’s strength: Arana 2013, pp.208–10.

81 Bolívar’s appearance: Ibid., pp.3, 227.

82 Congress at Angostura: Lynch 2006, p.119ff.

83 unity of race and colonies: Bolívar, Speech to the Congress of Angostura, 15 February 1819, Bolívar 2003, pp.38–9, 53.

84 ‘splendour and vitality’: Ibid., p.53.

85 ‘so bountifully provided’: ,Ibid.

86 ‘plaything of the revolutionary’: Ibid., p.31.

87 Bolívar crossing continent: Arana 2013, pp.230–32; Lynch 2006, pp.127–9.

88 veterans from Napoleonic Wars: Arana 2013, p.220; Lynch 2006, pp.122–4.

89 army crossing Andes: Arana 2013, pp.230–32; Lynch 2006, pp.127–8.

90 Battle of Boyacá: Arana 2013, pp.233–5; Lynch 2006, pp.129–30.

91 ‘lightning bolt’: Arana 2013, p.235.

92 Bolívar towards Quito: Arana 2013, pp.284–8; Lynch 2006, pp.170–71.

93 ‘generous in gifts’: O’Leary 1879–88, vol.2, p.146.