HUMBOLDT 897 HUME
July 29, 1900, King Humbert was assasinated by an Italian anarchist. He was succeeded by his son, Victor Emmanuel III.
Humboldt (hŭm'bōlt}, Friedrich Heinrich Alexander, Baron von, one of the greatest of naturalists, was born at Berlin on Sept. 14, 1769. He studied at the universities of Frankfort, Berlin and Göttingen. He next entered the Mining Academy at Freiberg, and afterward held an office in the mining department. He had already made scientific tours along the Rhine, in England, France, Belgium and Holland, and now the desire to see tropical countries led to his giving up his office. But before he started, three months at Jena gave him the friendship of Goethe and Schiller and a short stay at Paris that of Bonpland, who became his fellow-traveler. He set sail in June, 1799, and spent five years in exploring what now are Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Mexico, which he crossed from east to west. Twenty years were spent in preparing the notes taken on his American journey for his great book, Journey to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent. In 1829 Humboldt again became a traveler, accompanying an expedition sent by Emperor Nicholas to the north of Asia to explore the Ural and Altai Mountains, Chinese Szungaria and the Caspian Sea. The entire journey lasted nine months, and extended to 2,320 miles. It is described in Humboldt's Central Asia. In 1830 he was sent to Paris to carry the king of Prussia's recognition of Louis Phillippe, and for the next 12 years was employed on similar political missions. In 1835 was brought out his Examination of the Geography of the New Continent. His last great work, Cosmos, is one of the greatest scientific works ever published. Humboldt's gifts to science are large and varied — on the geography of Spanish America, meteorology, magnetism, climate, electricity, the breathing of fishes and crocodiles etc. See Lord Houghton's Monograph. He died at Berlin May 6, 1859.
Humboldt, Karl Wilhelm von, the older brother of Alexander, was born at Potsdam, Prussia, in June, 1767. He was educated at Frankfort, Berlin and Göttingen. He entered the government service, becoming counselor of legation. For awhile he lived at Jena, where he became a close friend of Schiller, his correspondence with whom is well-known. In 1801 he became Prussian minister at Rome. From Rome he returned to Berlin to fill the high place of first minister of public instruction, and it was owing to him that Berlin University, now the first in Germany, was founded. In 1810 he became ambassador to Austria. His Æsthetic Essays were published in 1709. He, however, is most famous for his studies in language. He was the first scientifically to study the Basque tongue, spent much labor on the languages of the east and on eastern literature, and carefully studied the languages of the South Sea islands. His essay On the Variety of Structure in Human Speech marks a new era in the study of language. Letters to a Female Friend show him to have been a most pure and amiable man. He died near Berlin, April 8, 1835.
Humboldt River, Nevada, is the longest river in that state, having a course of 350 miles. It flows into a lake having no outlet, Humboldt Lake. Along this stream runs the course of the Central Pacific Railroad. This stream is but small, and is saline and alkaline in its qualities; while its banks are in general clad only with sagebrush, though willows and other vegetation occasionally appear. The course of the river indicates the most practicable pass through the Nevada ranges; but even Lake Humboldt is nearly 4,000 feet above the level of the sea.
Hume, David, philosopher and historian, was born at Edinburgh, April 26, 1711. His father was a Scottish laird, but David was a younger son and had to make his own fortune. He was educated at Edinburgh and, as his father wished him to study law, he did so, but gave it up to try business life at Bristol, which he found just as little to his taste. He now became a student, with no settled plan of work. In 1739 appeared the first two books of his Treatise of Human Nature, better known by its later title, An Inquiry Concerning the Human Understanding, the germ of his philosophy. This book marks a new era in philosophy, yet it was little noticed at the time. In 1751 he brought out his Inquiry into the Principles of Morals, a work of great force. His Political Discourses, written in the following year, laid the foundation of free trade, though the doctrine was more fully worked out by Adam Smith. His appointment as keeper of the Advocate's Library in Edinburgh, with a small salary, surrounded him with books and put it into his head to write a history of England. The first volume, covering the reigns of James I and Charles I, came out in 1754. He carried it on to the Revolution (1688), and then wrote backward through the Tudors to the Roman conquest. Hume's History of England is not a fair and careful record of facts; but for many years it was the standard work, and still is one of the most interesting to read. In 1763 Hume went to Paris as ambassador's secretary. His last and highest office was under-secretary of state for the home department. Hume died at Edinburgh, Aug. 25, 1776. See Huxley's Hume in the English Men of Letters Series and Leslie Stephens' English Thought in the Eighteenth Century
