Berlin State Library (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz)

Edition

Voyage de Paris en Italie avec Gay Lussac 1805 [= Italian Travel Journal]

In March 1805, about seven months after his return from America, Humboldt sets out in Paris for a journey to Italy. He is accompanied by the chemist Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac and the geographer Franz August O’Etzel. The route leads through several stops first to Rome, where Humboldt’s brother Wilhelm is Prussian envoy. In Rome, geologist Leopold von Buch joins the small travel group. Humboldt’s notes from this time, bound in volume II and VI of his American Travel Journals, reflect the versatility of Humboldtian Science. In Roman museums and other art collections, he compares the products of indigenous cultures, which he had encountered in South America, with those of the classical European antiquity. Later on, the journey, amongst other purposes, is dedicated to comparative volcanological studies, including the ascent of Vesuvius and the observation of its eruption in August 1805. Humboldt and Gay-Lussac repeatedly carry out chemical analyses of the seawater and the composition of the atmosphere, which is published in the same year. They also attempt to determine the influence of different rocks on the earth’s magnetism. Via Naples and Rome, the trip leads back to Berlin, where Humboldt arrives on November 16, 1805, after an absence of more than nine years.

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Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Mineralogische und Petrographisch-lagerstättenkundliche Sammlung

Edition

Antike Marmorarten nach Zoega’s Bestimmungen

Edited by Cettina Rapisarda and Christian Thomas

In this manuscript, which has remained a fragment, Humboldt deals with terminological questions concerning the identification of some of the so-called „Antike Marmorarten“ (‘ancient marbles’) of the time. Inspired by the antiquarian Georg Zoëga mentioned in the title, and by the variety of rock samples offered to travelers in Rome, Humboldt lists eleven types of rock according to the Italian ‘antiquarian names’ conveyed by Zoёga. He notes their characteristic external features and provides reflections on the traditional typology and terminology, especially in relation to the increasingly established scientific classification and naming. The fragment was edited in Rome in the summer of 1805, according to its subtitle. It is closely related to Humboldt's Italian Travel Journal, not only in terms of its time of origin, but also in terms of its content, and is therefore presented together with the Journal.

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