When we consider the popularity attached to the illustrious name of
Humboldt, and the great interest excited by the publication of his
travels, we scarcely think Mr. Bohn is doing himself justice by
including the _Personal Narrative of Travels in the Equinoctial Region
of America during the Years_ 1799-1804, _by Alexander von Humboldt and
Aimé Bonpland_; _written in French by Alexander von Humboldt: translated
and edited by Thomasina Ross_, of which the first volume is now before
us, in his _Scientific Library_. His doing so will have a tendency to
discourage its perusal by many readers who, having no claim to be
considered scientific, will be deterred from opening the pages of a book
which, had they met with it in the _Standard Library_, they would have
read and re-read with all the interest which Humboldt's power of
contemplating nature in all her grandeur and variety, and of recording
the impressions produced by such contemplations, can never fail to
excite. We hope this brief notice may be the means of recommending this
valuable work to the general reader; to the scientific one it has been
so long known, as to render any such recommendation not at all
necessary.
We spoke so favourably of _The Woman's Journey round the World_, when
noticing the translation of it issued by Messrs. Longman in their
_Traveller's Library_, that we have now only to record the appearance of
another translation in the _Illustrated National Library_, which differs
from the former in being given in an unabridged form; and accompanied by
some dozen clever illustrations.