The Invention of Nature

‘pasta king’: AH to Varnhagen, 9 November 1856, Biermann and Schwarz, 2001b, no page numbers.

54

declared ‘a glacier’: AH to Ignaz von Olfers, after 19 December 1850, ibid.

55

gentleness and vulnerability: WH to CH, 18 September 1804, WH CH Letters 1910–16, vol.2, p.252.

56

letter written in French: WH to CH, 6 June 1804, ibid., p.183.

57

‘demonstrations of sentiments’: CH to WH, 4 November 1804, ibid., p.274.

58

serious letter to AH: CH to WH, 3 September 1804, ibid., p.238.

59

‘leave him by himself’: CH to WH, 16 September 1804, see also WH to CH, 18 September 1804, ibid., pp.250, 252.

60

‘all European countries’: CH to WH, 28 August 1804, ibid., p.231.

61

‘just the right man’: AH to John Vaughan, 10 June 1805, Terra 1958, p.562ff.

62

AH’s ideas for books: AH to Marc-Auguste Pictet, 3 February 1805, Bruhns 1873, vol.1, pp.345–7; AH to Carl Ludwig Willdenow, 21 February 1801, Biermann 1987, p.171–2.

63

carpenter and table top: Terra 1955, p.219; Podach 1959, p.209.

64

AH left Paris: Bruhns 1873, vol.1, p.351.

65

AH crossing the Alps: Ibid.; AH to Archibald Maclean, 6 November 1791, AH Letters 1973, p.157.

66

AH in Rome: WH CH Letters 1910–16, vol.2, p.298; AH to Aimé Bonpland, 10 June 1805, Bruhns 1873, vol.1, p.352.

67

WH and CH’s house: Gersdorff 2013, p.93ff.

68

Leopold von Buch: Werner 2004, p.115ff.

69

Bolívar walked to Italy: O’Leary 1915, p.86; Arana 2013, p.61ff.

70

Bolívar ‘a dreamer’: AH to Daniel F. O’Leary, 1853, Beck 1969, p.266

71

‘great wisdom and’: Vicente Rocafuerte to AH, 17 December 1824, Rippy and Brann 1947, p.702.

72

Bolívar as a ‘fabulist’: Rodríguez 2011, p.67; see also Werner 2004, pp.116–17.

73

eruption Vesuvius: Elisa von der Recke, Diary 13 August 1805, Recke 1815, vol.3, p.271ff.

74

‘compliment that Vesuvius’: Mr Chenevix about AH, Charles Bladgen to Joseph Banks, 25 September 1805, Banks 2007, vol.5, p.452.

75

‘asteroid next to’: AH to Aimé Bonpland, 1 August 1805, Heiman 1959, p.229.

76

Bolívar at Monte Sacro: Arana 2013, p.65ff.

77

‘I have broken the’: Bolívar’s vow, Rippy and Brann 1947, p.703.

Chapter 10: Berlin

1

AH journey to Berlin: AH to Spener or Sander, 28 October 1805, Bruhns 1873, vol.1, p.354

2

dull landscape around Berlin: AH to Fürst Pückler-Muskau, Biermann und Schwarz 1999a, p.183.

3

‘tropical nature’: AH to Johann Georg von Cotta, 9 March 1844, AH Cotta Letters 2009, p.259; see also AH to Goethe, 6 February 1806, Goethe Humboldt Letters 1909, p.298.

4

‘burning under my feet’: AH to de Beer, 22 April 1806, Bruhns 1873, vol.1, p.358.

5

AH’s royal pension: Ibid., p.355.

6

comparison wages craftsmen and WH: Merseburger 2009, p.76; WH to CH, 19 June 1810, WH CH Letters 1910–16, vol.3, p.418

7

‘almost oppressive’: AH to Marc-Auguste Pictet, November or December 1805, Bruhns 1873, vol.1, p.354.

8

Napoleon on Friedrich Wilhelm III: Terra 1955, p.244.

9

keep royal appointment quiet: AH to Marc-Auguste Pictet, 1805, Bruhns 1873, vol.1, p.355.

10

AH involved in court gossip: Leopold von Buch, Diary 23 Jan 1806, Werner 2004, p.117.

11

AH and garden house: Bruhns 1873, vol.1, p.356.

12

magnetic hut: Ibid.; Biermann and Schwarz 1999a, p.187.

13

Gay-Lussac left Berlin: Werner 2004, p.79.

14

‘isolated and as’: AH to de Beer, 22 April 1806, Bruhn 1873, vol.1, p.358.

15

Bonpland’s dislike of desk-bound work: AH to Carl Ludwig Willdenow, 17 May 1810, Fiedler and Leitner 2000, p.251.

16

‘in particular concerning’: AH to Bonpland, 21 December 1805; for AH and Bonpland’s publications, see AH to Bonpland, 1 August 1805, 4 January 1806, 8 March 1806, 27 June 1806, Biermann 1990, pp.179–80.

17

‘I wrote the major part’: AH Geography 2009, p.61.

18

‘the world likes to

see

’: AH to Marc-Auguste Pictet, 3 February 1805, Bruhns 1873, vol.1, p.347.

19

‘a broad brush’: AH Geography 2009, p.64.

20

its ‘natural connection’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.1, p.xlv.

21

‘long bands’: AH Geography 2009, p.66; AH Geography 1807, p.7.

22

AH on plant distribution in

Essay

(footnote): AH Geography 2009, pp.68, 75, 96; AH Geography 1807, pp.11, 31, 82–3.

23

agriculture and plants: AH Geography 2009, pp.71–2; AH Geography 1807, pp.16–21.

24

empires and plants: AH Geography 2009, pp.72–3; AH Geography 1807, pp.23–4.

25

‘ancient’ connection: AH Geography 2009, p.67; AH Geography 1807, p.9.

26

tectonic plate theory: German geologist Alfred Wegener formulated the tectonic plate theory in 1912 but it was only confirmed in the 1950s and 1960s.

27

showing unexpected analogies: AH Geography 2009, p.79; AH Geography 1807, p.40.

28

‘a reflection of the whole’: AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.2, p.86; AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.2, p.89 (my translation ‘Abglanz des Ganzen’).

29

‘according to the shape’: AH Geography 2009, p.69; AH Geography 1807, p.13.

30

‘our imagination and our spirit’: AH Geography 2009, p.79; AH Geography 1807, p.41.

31

AH referred to Schelling: AH Geography 1807, p.v; Humboldt wrote different introductions for the French and German editions.

32

Schelling’s

Naturphilosophie

: Richards 2002, pp.114–203.

33

‘the necessity to grasp’: Henrik Steffens, 1798, in ibid., p.151.

34