Printed in the Chemische Annalen, volume 2 for 1796, pages 99 to 110 and 195 to 210, as a letter from the Oberbergrat to Berghauptmann von Trebra. The mining safety writing of the service years.
Historical record
A demonstration record, compiled from public archives. Alexander von Humboldt did not write it; the institutions cited here did. Sources and clearance →
1769 to 1859
Alexander von Humboldt
A record of the Prussian mining official whose payroll title was Oberbergmeister and then Oberbergrat, and whose published pages carry the plant geography, the isotherm lines and Kosmos.
§1Statement
On 14 May 1791 he asked for a position in the Prussian mining service, and on 14 June 1791 he began study at the Bergakademie in Freiberg in Saxony. The Bergakademie records about eight months of enrolment, 14 June 1791 to 26 February 1792, under the mineralogist Abraham Gottlob Werner, and quotes him on the routine of those months: "Ich bringe fast alle Morgen von 7 bis 12 Uhr in den Gruben zu, den Nachmittag habe ich Unterricht, und den Abend jage ich Moose, wie es Forster nannte". He was made Assessor in the Prussian mining department on 29 February 1792, received the appointment as Assessor cum voto on 6 March 1792, and was promoted to Oberbergmeister in the Franconian principalities on 6 September 1792. The service years produced apparatus as well as reports: on 1 May 1795 he was appointed Oberbergrat and released from the duties of Oberbergmeister, and on 16 October 1796 he was injured during trials with a light holder of his own construction at the alum works at Berneck. A letter printed in the Chemische Annalen for 1796, under the byline "Aus einem Briefe des Hrn. Oberbergraths von Humboldt an den Herrn Berghauptmann von Trebra", announced a rescue apparatus and a light holder for working in irrespirable pit gases. He left the mining service at his own request at the end of December 1796, having written to A. G. Werner on 21 December 1796 that a great journey outside Europe was in preparation. The printing of the first volume of Kosmos was finished on 15 March 1845, and that edition was out of stock by June 1845.
§2Engagements
Written by Humboldt, with Aimé Bonpland, on measurements made between ten degrees north and ten degrees south during 1799 to 1803. Paris, Levrault, Schoell et compagnie. The scanned copy is the Missouri Botanical Garden's.
Zentralbibliothek Zürich (shelfmark NF 34 | F), served via e-rara.ch, the platform for digitized rare books from Swiss institutions, ETH Library Zurich. Public Domain Mark
Stuttgart and Tübingen, Cotta. The volume in which the climate lines are claimed in his own words: "Das System der Isothermen, Isotheren und Isochimenen, welches ich zuerst im Jahr 1817 aufgestellt".
1852
Personal narrative of travels to the equinoctial regions of America, during the year 1799 to 1804
London, Bohn, volume one, in the English translation edited by Thomasina Ross. The English form of the Relation historique of the American journey.
§3Schedule of record
| 1791 to 1792 | Bergakademie FreibergEnrolled 14 June 1791 and studied to 26 February 1792, about eight months, under Abraham Gottlob Werner, in geology, mineralogy and mining science. |
| 1792 | Prussian mining departmentAssessor from 29 February 1792, Assessor cum voto by the appointment of 6 March 1792, and Oberbergmeister in the Franconian principalities from 6 September 1792. On 22 September 1792 he closed a report on the state of mining and metallurgy in the principalities of Bayreuth and Ansbach. |
| 1793 to 1794 | The free mining school at StebenSet up at the end of November 1793 on his own initiative and out of his own means. A memorandum written at Steben on 13 March 1794 proposed converting it into a state institution. |
| 1795 to 1796 | Oberbergrat, and the light holder trialsAsked on 26 March 1795 to be discharged from the duties of Oberbergmeister; appointed Oberbergrat on 1 May 1795. Injured on 16 October 1796 in trials with a light holder of his own construction at the alum works at Berneck. |
| 1796 | Departure from the mining serviceLeft the mining service at his own request at the end of December 1796, weeks after the death of his mother and the letter of 21 December 1796 to A. G. Werner. |
| 1799 to 1804 | The American journeyA travel pass was issued at Aranjuez on 7 May 1799. With Aimé Bonpland he embarked at the harbour of La Coruña on the Spanish corvette Pizarro on 5 June 1799 and landed at Cumaná on 16 July 1799. |
| 1845 | Kosmos, first volumeThe preface was written at Potsdam in November 1844; printing of the first volume was finished on 15 March 1845 and the edition was out of stock by June 1845. |
| 1859 | Death in BerlinBedridden from 21 April 1859; died on 6 May 1859 at 14:30 at Oranienburger Straße 67, and was buried in the family grave in the park at Schloss Tegel on 11 May 1859. |
§4Figures of record
| 8 months at Freiberg | About eight months at the Bergakademie, from 14 June 1791 to 26 February 1792, under Abraham Gottlob Werner. |
| 258 species, 1793 | Florae Fribergensis Specimen recorded 258 species, of which 124 were placed in Algae and 134 in Fungi. 210 of the 258 were later found above ground near Freiberg as well. |
| Chimborazo, 1802 | On 23 June 1802 the chronology gives the height he determined as 3,031 toises, or 5,906 metres, on a mountain then held to be the highest in the world at 6,310 metres. The summit was not reached. |
| 22,000 sheets in Berlin | About two thirds of the Nachlass, roughly 22,000 sheets including the American travel diaries, are held at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin; about one third, roughly 11,000 sheets, at the Jagiellonian Library in Krakow after wartime evacuation. |
| Kosmos vol. 1, 1845 | Printing finished 15 March 1845; the edition was out of stock by June 1845. |
§5Notes
Kosmos, erster Band, 1845
"Das System der Isothermen, Isotheren und Isochimenen, welches ich zuerst im Jahr 1817 aufgestellt, kann vielleicht, wenn es durch vereinte Bemühungen der Physiker allmälig vervollkommnet wird, eine der Hauptgrundlagen der vergleichenden Klimatologie abgeben." The claim to the climate lines, in his own words. Stuttgart and Tübingen, Cotta, 1845, at printed page 340 as the Deutsches Textarchiv transcription paginates the volume.
Kosmos, erster Band, 1845
"So ist der Geist der Methode, der es, wie ich mir schmeichle, einst möglich werden wird unermeßliche Reihen scheinbar isolirt stehender Thatsachen mit einander durch empirische, numerisch ausgedrückte Gesetze zu verbinden und die Nothwendigkeit ihrer gegenseitigen Abhängigkeit zu erweisen." The method stated as a method, five pages later, at printed page 345 as the Deutsches Textarchiv transcription paginates the volume.
§6Matters commonly raised
01
What title did the Prussian state actually pay him under?
Assessor in the mining department from 29 February 1792, Oberbergmeister in the Franconian principalities from 6 September 1792.
02
What did the mining office produce besides reports?
A free mining school at Steben, set up at the end of November 1793 on his own initiative and out of his own means, with a memorandum of 13 March 1794 proposing it become a state institution.
03
When did the American journey end?
The ship reached the mouth of the Garonne off Bordeaux on 1 August 1804, and on 3 August 1804 he set foot on European soil after more than five years away.
04
Where does the claim to the isotherm lines stand written?
In the first volume of Kosmos, in his own words: "Das System der Isothermen, Isotheren und Isochimenen, welches ich zuerst im Jahr 1817 aufgestellt, kann vielleicht, wenn es durch vereinte Bemühungen der Physiker allmälig vervollkommnet wird, eine der Hauptgrundlagen der vergleichenden Klimatologie abgeben."
05
What does the record hold on slavery?
The Essai politique sur l'île de Cuba, Paris 1826, states: "L'esclavage est sans doute le plus grand de tous les maux qui ont affligé l'humanité". The same journey travelled under a pass issued at the Spanish royal seat of Aranjuez and aboard a Spanish crown corvette.