The Invention of Nature

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.

Chapter 8: Politics and Nature

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