charles_darwin

100
Biographies
historique du voyage aux regions equinoxiales du nouveau continent
[Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New
World] (1814–1825) that Darwin decided he wanted to become a famous
naturalist. It was Humboldt’s discovery of numerous new species
in South America that gave Darwin a vital piece of evidence that
the species were not fixed and were continually diversifying.
Humboldt had shown an interest in science as a child—he collected
and labeled plants, insects, and shells—and decided to become
a naturalist and explorer in his late teens. By the age of 21, he had already
published a description of the mineral deposits on the Rhine
river (Mineralogische Beobachtungen €uber einige Basalte am Rhein [Mineralogical
Observations of Certain Basalts on the Rhine], 1790).
While working as an inspector of mines, he wrote books on the subterraneous
flora of the Freiberg area (Florae Fribergensis specimen
plantas cryptogamicus praesertim subterraneas exhibens [Examples of
the Flora of Freiburg, Especially Displaying Cryptogamic Underground
Plants], 1793) and the conduction of impulses through nerves
(Versuche €uber die gereizte Muskel-und Nervenfaser nebst Versuchen €uber
den chemischen Prozess des Lebens in der Thier-und Pflanzenwelt
[Experiments on Stimulated Muscle and Nerve Fibers together with
Experiments on the Chemical Process of Life in the Animal and Plant
World], 1797), which established his reputation as a good naturalist.
The death of his mother in 1796 and the inheritance he
received enabled Humboldt to do what he really desired: travel and
explore. He and Aime Bonpland planned an ambitious exploration of
Spanish America, which they began in 1799. The five-year journey
was a great success. The Leonids, a periodic meteor shower, and
electric eels are two of the many extraordinary discoveries made by
Humboldt and Bonpland. One work based on the voyage, Voyage aux
regions equinoctiales du Nouveau Continent, fait en 1799–1804 [Voyage
in the Equinoctial Regions of the New World, during the years
1799–1804] (1807–1839), consists of thirty volumes.
Humboldt’s contribution to science did not end with the voyage
to Spanish America. He wrote a seminal book on meteorology, Des
lignes isothermes et de la distribution de la ch^aleur sur le globe [Isothermal
Lines and the Distribution of Heat around the Earth] (1817);
traveled and explored more than nine thousand miles in the Asian
part of the Russian Empire in 1829; and wrote, but did not complete,
a book attempting to unify all scientific knowledge, Kosmos: Entwurf
einer physischen Weltbeschreibung [Cosmos: An Outline of the Physical
Description of the Universe] (1845–1847, 1850–1858, 1862).
In The Origin of Species, Darwin calls Humboldt ‘‘illustrious’’
(The Origin of Species, 374). Humboldt’s fame and reputation