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The Spanish-American Works of Alexander von Humboldt as Viewed By Leading British Periodicals, 1800–1830

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Calvin P. Jones
Calvin P. Jones*
Affiliation:
Pikeville CollegePikeville, Kentucky
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Extract

Perhaps the most significant scientific works published about Spanish-America during the entire era 1800–1830 were the botanical and zoological findings of the German scientist, Alexander von Humboldt. He had traveled in the Spanish colonies from 1799 to 1804. Humboldt has been acclaimed as the greatest naturalist that the world had seen since Aristotle and as the foremost man in Europe during his lifetime with the exception of Napoleon. He had taken a scientific education in several German universities and had once held an appointment in Berlin as a mining official for the Prussian government. On his way back to Europe in 1804 at the conclusion of his scientific survey in Spanish-America, he stopped in the United States to visit President Thomas Jefferson who asked him to fix the new boundaries of the United States following the purchase of Louisiana. This side trip probably saved Humboldt’s life because the ship which sailed from South America with his specimens was lost at sea.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 29 , Issue 4 , April 1973 , pp. 442 - 448
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1973

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References

1 Hubbard, Elbert, Little Journeys to Homes of Great Scientists: Humboldt (New York: The Roycrofters, 1905), 105–107 Google Scholar; Edward Rommel Brann, Alexander Von Humboldt: Patron of Science (Madison, Wisconsin: Little Printing Company, 1954), 2–5 Google Scholar.

2 Hubbard, 105–107.

3 Terra, Helmut de, Humboldt: The Life and Times of Alexander Von Humboldt, 1769–1859 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1955), 181 Google Scholar.

4 Hubbard, 116–118.

5 One was a description of the province of Quito, part of the correspondence is found in the “Annals of the National Museum of Natural History …” (Of Paris), Monthly Review, XLVII (August, 1805), 478–490 Google Scholar.

6 Reviews of “Plantes Equinoxiales …,” Ibid., XLVIII (December, 1805), 528–529 Google Scholar and “Observations on Zoology and Comparative Anatomy …,” Ibid., 530–531 Google Scholar. Both reviews were complimentary to the author and pointed out that he also gave credit to his travelling companion, Bonpland, for his findings although he had done the writings himself. The two naturalists were congratulated for having added considerably to the body of knowledge by virtue of their significant findings.

7 The Royal Irish Academy and the Royal Society of London were interested in nautical observations and measurements made by Don Joseph Rodriguez and Joseph Mendoza Rios. See reviews of “Transactions …,” “Philosophical Transactions …,” Ibid., LXXIII (March, 1814), 94–95 Google Scholar, and “A Complete Collection of Tables …,” Ibid., LXIV (January, 1811), 94–95 Google Scholar.

8 Various plants were recommended for transplantation to the British West Indian possessions. See a review of Sketches towards a Hortus Botanicus Americanus …,” Ibid., LXVIII (May, 1812), 96–97 Google Scholar. They were described with names arranged from the Linnean System. See Ibid., LXXII (November, 1813), 328. “The Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London …” included a work by Sir Joseph Banks which recommended the grafting of the Spanish chestnut in order to produce nuts which, although smaller than the imported fruit, were “beyond comparison sweeter.” See Ibid., LX (November, 1809), 266–276 Google Scholar.

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10 Ibid., LVI (December, 1811), 353–365; Ibid., LXVII (January, 1812), 35–43; Ibid., LXIX (September, 1812), 35–54; Edinburgh Review, XVI (April, 1810), 62–102; and Ibid., XIX (December, 1811), 164–198.

11 Edinburgh Review, XVI (June, 1810), 223–252 Google Scholar.

12 Humboldt himself stressed the plant life of the area as well as different types of animal life, in particular, the eel. For excerpts concerned with Humboldt’s discussion of the “Electrical Eels” in South America, see “Natural History,” Annual Register for the Year 1809, LI (1811), 851–852. For an article entitled “Eaters of Earth” among the Indian tribes see Ibid., 845. There was also a lengthy article about the trip taken by Humboldt and Bonpland which went into great detail. See “Account of Books for 1809,” Ibid., 924–935.

13 Quarterly Review, XIV (December, 1815), 368–402 Google Scholar.

14 Reviews of “Researches concerning the Institutions and Monuments of the ancient Inhabitants of America …,” Monthly Review, 2d ser., LXXIX (January, 1816), 16–21 Google Scholar, and Quarterly Review, XV (July, 1816), 440–468; plus reviews of “Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions …,” Monthly Review, 2d ser., LXXIX (January, 1816), 1–16; Quarterly Review, XVIII (October, 1817), 135–158; and Ibid., XXI (March, 1819), 320–352; Monthly Review, 2d ser., LXXXVIII (March, 1819), 234–246; Ibid., XC (September, 1819), 14–24; and New Monthly Magazine, II (1821), 314–318. Excerpts from Humboldt’s Travels concerned with “Earthquake in the Caraccas” and “Scenery on the Rio Apure” also appeared in “Natural History,” Annual Register for the Year 1819, LXI (1820), 551–556.

15 Monthly Review, 2d ser., LXXXVIII (March, 1819), 234–246.

16 Ibid., XC (September, 1819), 14–24 Google Scholar.

17 Quarterly Review, XXV (June, 1821), 365–392 Google Scholar.

18 New Monthly Magazine, II (1821), 314–318 Google Scholar.

19 Reviews of “Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent, during the years 1799–1804 …,” Monthly Review, 2d ser., C (March, 1823), 264–281 Google Scholar; Ibid., CVIII (October, 1825), 215–224; “Critical Notices,” New Monthly Magazine, XVIII (May 1, 1826), 184–185 Google Scholar; “Synopsis Plantaram quas, in Itinere ad Plagam Aequinoctialem Orbis Novi …,” Monthly Review, 2d ser., CIII (April, 1824), 493–495 Google Scholar; and “A eGognostical Essay on the Superposition of Rocks, in both Hemispheres …,” Ibid., CV (November, 1824), 225–237 Google Scholar.

20 “Foreign Varieties: America,” New Monthly Magazine, XV (September 1, 1825), 405 Google Scholar, and Ibid., XVIII (July 1, 1826), 293–294.

21 Selections from the Works of Baron de Humboldt relating to the climate, Inhabitants, Productions, and Mines of Mexico with notes by John Taylor (London: 1824), preface.

22 “Foreign Varieties: America,” New Monthly Magazine, III (October 1, 1824), 447–448 Google Scholar.

23 Ibid., XV (September 1, 1825), 403–404.

24 Monthly Review, 3d ser., XI (June, 1829), 200–214 Google Scholar.

25 “Miscellaneous Notices,” Mechanics’ Magazine, XII, No. 320 (Saturday, September 26, 1829), 94 Google Scholar.

26 “Literary and Miscellaneous Intelligence: Foreign and Domestic,” Monthly Review, 3d ser., VII (March, 1828), 413 Google Scholar.

27 “Miscellaneous Intelligence,” Ibid., XIV (May, 1830), 154 Google Scholar.

28 New Monthly Magazine, XXIII (1828), 45–53 Google Scholar; “Critical Notices,” Ibid., XXVII (September 1, 1829), 386–387 Google Scholar; Monthly Review, 3d ser., VIII (July, 1828), 314–328 Google Scholar; Westminister Review, IX (April, 1828), 480–500 Google Scholar.