This eBook was prepared by Amy Zelmer This material taken from pages i-ii, iv and v, and 3-12 COSMOS: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Vol. 1 by Alexander von Humboldt Translated by E C Otte from the 1858 Harper & Brothers edition of Cosmos, volume 1 -------------------------------------------------- p i COSMOS VOLUME I [p ii is blank] [p iii - not copied; pertains to reprint series] p iv [portrait] p v COSMOS A SKETCH OR A PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIVERSE BY ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY E. C. OTTE Naturae vero rerum vis atque majestas in omnibus momentis fides caret, si quis modo partes ejus ac non totam complectatur animo. -- Plin., 'Hist. Nat.', lib. vii, c. 1. VOLUME I WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY NICOLAAS A. RUPKE THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS Baltimore and London [page vi and Introduction to the 1997 edition not copied] p 1 COSMOS VOLUME I [p 2 is blank] p 3 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. ----------------------- I CAN not more appropriately introduce the Cosmos than by presenting a brief sketch of the life of its illustrious author.* While the name of Alexander von Humboldt is familiar to every one, few, perhaps, are aware of the peculiar circumstances of his scientific career and of the extent of his labors in almost every department of physical knowledge. He was born on the 14th of September, 1769, and is, therefore, now in his 80th year. After going through the ordinary course of education at Gottingen, and having made a rapid tour through Holland, England, and France, he became a pupil of Werner at the mining school of Freyburg, and in his 21st year published an "Essay on the Basalts of the Rhine." Though he soon became officially connected with the mining corps, he was enabled to continue his excursions in foreign countries, for, during the six or seven years succeeding the publication of his first essay, he seems to have visited Austria, Switzerland, Italy, and France. His attention to mining did not, however, prevent him from devoting his attention to other scientific pursuits, among which botany and the then recent discovery of galvanism may be especially noticed. Botany, indeed, we know from his own authority, occupied him almost exclusively for some years; but even at this time he was practicing the use of those astronomical and physical instruments which he afterward turned to so singularly excellent an account. [footnote] *For the following remarks I am mainly indebted to the articles on the Cosmos in the two leading Quarterly Reviews.