Views of nature: or Contemplations on the sublime phenomena of creation: with scientific illustrationsHumboldt, Alexander von
Science
Views of nature: or Contemplations on the sublime phenomena of creation: with scientific illustrations
Humboldt, Alexander von
Physical geography; Plant morphology; Science; South America -- Description and travel
Nowhere are these inundations on a larger scale than in the net-work of
streams formed by the Apure, the Arachuna, the Payara, the Arauca, and
the Cabuliare. Large vessels sail across the country over the Steppe for
40 or 50 miles.
Footnote 41:
p. 17.—“_To the mountainous plain of Antisana._”
The great mountain plateau which surrounds the volcano of Antisana is
13,473 feet above the level of the sea. The pressure of the atmosphere
is so inconsiderable at this height, that blood will flow from the
nostrils and mouth of the wild bull when hunted with dogs.
Footnote 42:
p. 17.—“_The marshy waters of Bera and Rastro._”
I have elsewhere more circumstantially described the capture of the
gymnotus.[HD] Mons. Gay Lussac and myself were perfectly successful in
the experiments we conducted without a chain on a living gymnotus, which
was still very vigorous when it reached Paris. The discharge of
electricity is entirely dependent on the will of the animal. We did not
observe any electric sparks, but other physicists have done so on
numerous occasions.
Footnote 43:
p. 18.—“_Awakened by the contact of moist and dissimilar particles._”
In all organic bodies dissimilar substances come into contact with each
other, and solids are associated with fluids. Wherever there is
organization and life, there must be electric tension, or, in other
words, a voltaic pile must be brought into play, as the experiments of
Nobili and Matteucci, and more especially the late most admirable
labours of Emil Dubois, teach us. The last-named physicist has succeeded
in “manifesting the presence of the electric muscular current in living
and wholly uninjured animal bodies:” he shows that “the human body,
through the medium of a copper wire, can at will cause the magnetic
needle at a distance to deflect first in one direction and then in
another.”[HE] I have myself witnessed these movements produced at will,
and have thus unexpectedly seen much light thrown on phenomena, to which
I had laboriously and ardently devoted so many years of my earlier life.
Footnote 44:
p. 19.—“_The myth of Osiris and Typhon._”
Respecting the struggle of two human races, the Arabian shepherd tribes
of Lower Egypt and the cultivated agricultural races of Upper Egypt; on
the subject of the fair-haired Prince _Baby_ or _Typhon_, who founded
Pelusium; and on the dark-complexioned Dionysos or Osiris; I would refer
to Zoëga’s older and almost universally discarded views as set forth at
p. 577 of his masterly work “_De origine et usu obeliscorum_.”
Footnote 45:
p. 19—“_The boundaries of European semi-civilization._”
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