Foremost amongst these _savans_ stood Alexander von Humboldt, that illustrious man, who up to the last moment of his existence was alive with youthful enthusiasm for every scientific enterprise. In England great interest in the success of the Expedition was evinced by Sir Roderic Murchison, Sir W. Hooker, Sir Charles Lyell, General Sabine, Admiral Smyth, Admiral Fitzroy, Professor Robert Owen, Professor Philips, Professor Bell, Professor W. A. Ramsay, Professor Goodsir, of Edinburgh, W. J. Hamilton, Esq., Charles Darwin, Esq., L. Horner, Esq., James Yates, Esq., B. Davis, Esq., &c., &c. From the United States of North America, we received most valuable communications from Commander M. F. Maury, National Observatory, Washington, D. C.--Captain Rodgers, and others. Letters of introduction were received from Germany, and particularly from England, to influential parties and societies in a variety of places abroad, amongst which were many warm and friendly recommendations from the English Government and Admiralty, as well as the Directors of the then East India Company, to various administrative authorities in the British Colonies. [Illustration: GUN-ROOM OF THE _NOVARA_.] The frigate _Novara_ was laid up in the arsenal of Pola, where all requisite steps were taken to complete her outfit, and prepare her thoroughly for the voyage. The ventilation of the lower deck was improved, and the number of cabins increased in proportion to the number of individuals for whom accommodation was to be provided. The gun-room was, by command of the Archduke, converted into a reading-room, and provided with a well-selected library as well as with all the charts and maps necessary for the information of the officers, who here made their calculations and executed their drawings. The store-rooms for the sails and tackle were enlarged, so as to hold a double quantity. A distilling apparatus, the same as patented by M. Rocher, of Nantes, was fixed on the gun-deck, and being placed in connection with the ship's coppers, it was found that, during the few hours each day that the latter were used for cooking, enough sea-water was distilled to supply the entire ship's company with excellent water to drink. This distilled water, after having been kept in iron tanks for a month, was found pleasant to the taste, and agreed very well with the health. The excellent health enjoyed by all the crew throughout the voyage must, in a great measure, be ascribed to the circumstance, that scarcely any other but this distilled sea-water was used, so that the men were enabled entirely to forego drinking river or spring-water, which in the tropics are frequently found injurious.