Alexander Von Humbolt, Or, What May be Accomplished in a Lifetime

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R. Hardwicke, 1866 - 207 pages
 

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Page 182 - His virtues walked their narrow round, Nor made a pause, nor left a void ; And sure the eternal Master found The single talent well employed.
Page 199 - Through this day's life or death. This day be bread and peace my lot; All else beneath the sun Thou know'st If best bestowed or not, And let thy will be done. To thee, whose temple is all space ; Whose altar, earth, sea, skies ; One chorus let all being raise ! All nature's incense rise ! ODE ON SOLITUDE.
Page 194 - The investigations of Wolff, Goethe, and von Baer, have established the truth that the series of changes gone through during the development of a seed into a tree, or an ovum into an animal, constitute an advance from homogeneity of structure to heterogeneity of structure.
Page 165 - But on the other hand, if man is the apex of the creation, if he is the end to which all organic formations tend from the very beginning ; if man is at once the mystery and the key of natural science; if that is the only view of natural science worthy of our age, then...
Page 197 - ... increase has taken place pending the introduction of steam navigation and railway transit, and under exceptional conditions of manufacturing development, it would be too much to assume that it will continue to advance with equal rapidity. The statistics collected by Mr. Hunt, of the Mining...
Page 156 - We can point nowhere to anything final; but tendency appears on all hands: planet, system, constellation, total nature is growing like a field of maize in July ; is becoming somewhat else; is in rapid metamorphosis. The embryo does not more strive to be man than yonder burr of light we call a nebula tends to be a ring, a comet, a globe, and parent of new stars.
Page 197 - Assuming 4,000 feet as the greatest depth at which it will ever be possible to carry on mining operations, and rejecting all seams of less than two feet in thickness, the entire quantity of available coal existing in these islands has been calculated to amount to about...
Page 194 - Each of these differentiated divisions presently begins itself to exhibit some contrast of parts ; and by and by these secondary differentiations become as definite as the original one.
Page 158 - ... irresistibly, to tranquillize and re-assure the mind, and render it less accessible to repining, selfish, and turbulent emotions. And this it does, not by debasing our nature into weak compliances and abject submission to circumstances, but by filling us, as from an inward spring, with a sense of nobleness and power which enables us to rise superior to them ; by showing us our strength and innate...
Page 194 - Baer, have established the truth that the series of changes gone through during the development of a seed into a tree, or an ovum into an animal, constitute an advance from homogeneity of structure to heterogeneity of structure. In its primary stage, every germ consists of a substance that is uniform throughout, both in texture and chemical composition. The first step 'is the appearance of a difference between two parts of this substance ; or, as the phenomenon is called in physiological language,...

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