Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/55

HUMBOLDT RIVER HUME 47 sia should not permit Ilumboldt to know any- thing of the treaty until it was concluded. During his diplomatic career he showed great genius in debate, quickness of reply, and a most delicate, cutting irony. In 1816 he went to Frankfort as ambassador, and in 1818 to London and Aix-la-Chapelle. In 1819 he was called to the ministry. At this time the king of Prussia determined not to in- troduce the representative system which he had promised to the people. Other points of difficulty arose, and Ilumboldt disagreed with his colleagues. By a decree of Dec. 31, 1819, he was dismissed from the minis- try and deprived of his state appointments. He now retired to private life, and devoted himself to literature. His contributions to phi- lology from this time were very extensive, and of such importance that it has been said that before him great minds, such as Herder, Adelung, and Friedrich Schlegel, had led the way, hut Humboldt was the first who made of philology a science. Having formed the inten- tion to follow all the languages of the Pacific in detail in order to establish the connection be- tween India and Europe, he began with his work Ueber die ITawigprache auf der hud Java (3 vols. 4to, Berlin, 1836-'40), in which he traces the languages, history, and literature of the Malay races. The most valuable portion of the work is its introduction, Ueber die Ver- schiedenheit des mentchlichen SpracJibauet und ihren Einflitss avf die geistige Entwickelung des Henschengeschlechts. This was published separately (4to, Berlin, 1836), and embodies the conclusions at which he had arrived in regard to the origin, development, and na- ture of language in general. Besides this, his principal works are a number of criticisms col- lected in the Aesthetuehe Versuche (Bruns- wick, 1799); a translation of the "Agamem- non" of ^Eschylus, a work containing also valuable researches into the Greek language and metres; the BericJitigungen und Zusatze zu Adelunffs Mithridates (Berlin, 1817); Pru- fung der Untersuchungen iiber die Urbewohner Spanient, &c. (1821) ; BhagavadgTiita (1826) ; and Ueber den Dualis (1828). His collected works were published by his brother Alexander (7 vols. 8vo, Berlin, 1841-'52). His Briefe an eine Freundin (2 vols., Leipsic, 1847; 6th ed., 1856; and in 1 vol., 2d ed., 1863; English translation by Catharine M. A. Couper, 2 vols., London, 1849), containing his letters to Char- lotte Diede, whose acquaintance he had made in Pyrmont in 1788, are renowned for beauty of thought and feeling. Among other English translations of his writings is " The Sphere and Duties of Government," by J. Coulthard (1854). The best biography of Wilhelm von Humboldt is by Haym (Berlin, 1856). His col- lection of MSS. and books he bequeathed to the royal library of Berlin. Ill MBOLDT RIVER, a stream which rises in the N. E. part of Nevada in Elko county, flows first W. by S., then bends N., and afterward 417 VOL. ix. 4 flowing S. S. W. loses itself after a winding course of about 300 m. in the Humboldt " sink " or lake, on the border of Humboldt and Chur- chill counties, in the W. part of the state. It is in no part more than a few yards wide, and is not navigable. It flows through a treeless re- gion, the valley, except immediately along the stream, consisting of sandy land covered with sage brush, which, however, by irrigation might be rendered productive. Numerous streams on either side of the valley rush down the mountain gorges, but sink before reaching the Humboldt, except in the case of a few in sea- sons of more than usual snow and rain in the mountains. Of these streams the principal are the Little Humboldt on the north, and Reese river on the south. Near its source in Elko county, the Humboldt receives its N. and S. forks. As the only considerable stream flowing E. and W. through the Great Basin, its valley formed the ordinary emigrant route from the Great Salt lake to California ; the Central Pa- cific railroad now follows its banks through- out its whole course. The Humboldt "sink" has no outlet, and is merely a marshy spot in a sandy plain, 10 or 15 m. long and 30 or 40 m. in circumference ; the extent of water surface is variable, the capacity of the sands to absorb and of the atmosphere to evaporate being gen- erally in excess of the supply from the river. Ill Ml), David, a Scottish historian, born in Edinburgh, April 26, 1711, died there, Aug. 25, 1776. His father, proprietor of the estate of Ninewells in Berwickshire, died during David's infancy, leaving three children. Hume was intended for the bar. He passed through the university of Edinburgh, but was drawn away from his legal studies by that love for literature which became the ruling passion of his life. At 16 he was a skeptic in matters of religion. His inheritance as a younger son being small, in 1734 he entered a counting room at Bristol, whence after a few months he passed over into France, and lived for three years with great economy while composing his " Treatise of Human Nature." In 1738 he printed his work in London, which, as he says, " fell dead born from the press." Returning to live at Nine- wells, he printed anonymously at Edinburgh, in 1742, the first volume of his "Essays." He next sought a professorship in the Edinburgh university, but his skeptical principles pre- vented his success. In 1745 he went to live as companion to the insane marquis of Annan- dale. In 1746 Gen. St. Clair invited him to become his private secretary, in an expedition designed for the invasion of Canada, but which was finally directed against the coast of France. Hume was also made judge advocate in the army, and was highly popular with his military associates. When St. Clair went as minister to Turin, he took Hume with him as his secre- tary. On his way to Italy he passed through Germany, sailed down the Danube, and at Vienna was presented to the empress Maria Theresa. While at Turin, his "Inquiry con-