AN ABSTRACT OF MR. EMERSON’S REMARKS MADE AT THE CELEBRATION OF THE
CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT, SEPTEMBER
14, 1869
“If a life prolonged to an advanced period bring with
it several inconveniences to the individual, there is a
compensation in the delight of being able to compare older
states of knowledge with that which now exists, and to see
great advances in knowledge develop themselves under our eyes
in departments which had long slept in inactivity.”
HUMBOLDT, _Letter to Ritter_.