Cosmos: Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe, Volume 2Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans ... and John Murray, 1849 - Astronomy |
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Cosmos: Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe Alexander von Humboldt Limited preview - 2010 |
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adorned ancient animals antiquity Arabian Arabic Arianic Aristotle Asia Bab-el-Mandeb beauty belonging century character charm Christian civilisation climate clouds coast colouring Columbus contemplation continent cultivation described descriptions of nature discovery distant early earth East Arianic epic epoch Europe extensive external feeling forest forms geographical German grandeur Greeks Hebrew Herodotus Iberian peninsula imagination impression India Indian Indian poetry influence intellectual intercourse islands Jacob Grimm Joseph von Hammer knowledge land landscape painting language literature love of nature lyrical Mediterranean Meghaduta middle ages mind modern mountain nations navigation northern objects ocean peculiar period Persian Persian plateaus phænomena Phœnicians physical picture picturesque Pillars of Hercules plants poem poetic poetry poets portion Ptolemy race recognised regarded remarked rich Roman scenery Shahnameh shews shores songs southern Strabo study of nature Tartessus tion trees tropical truth to nature vegetation views voyage whole Wolfram von Eschenbach writings
Popular passages
Page 35 - The trees of the Lord are full of sap ; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted; where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house.
Page 35 - LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all ; the earth is full of thy riches. 25 So is the great and wide sea also; wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. 26 There go the ships, and there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to take his pastime therein.
Page 264 - Io mi volsi a man destra, e posi mente All' altro polo, e vidi quattro stelle Non viste mai fuor che alla prima gente.
Page 219 - Cofnioyraphicus de Natura Locorum, is a species of physical geography. I have found in it considerations on the dependence of temperature concurrently on latitude and elevation, and on the effect of different angles of incidence of the sun's rays in heating the ground, which have excited my surprise.'* Jourdain, another modern critic, says, ' whether we consider him as a theologian or a philosopher.
Page 83 - ... in the midst of nature, free and unconstrained. The art of laying out gardens consists, therefore, in combining cheerfulness of prospect, luxuriance of growth, shade, retirement and repose ; so that the rural aspect may produce an illusion. Variety, which is...
Page 338 - Will ich den Himmel, die Erde mit einem Namen begreifen, Nenn ich, Sakontala, dich, und so ist alles gesagt.
Page 229 - ... needle, indicate, like many Arabic names of stars which we still employ, the channel, and the people from whom western countries received the elements of their knowledge. In Christian Europe the first mention of the use of the magnetic needle occurs in the politicosatirical poem, called La Bible...
Page v - He had possessed two iron swords, presents from the king Artaxerxes Mnemon, and from his mother Parysatis, which, when planted in the earth, averted clouds, hail, and strokes of lightning. He had himself seen the operation, for the king had twice made the experiment before his eyes.
Page xxxi - Nee non et horologium, ex aurichalco arte mechanica mirifice compositum, in quo duodecim horarum cursus ad clepsydram vertebatur, cum totidem aereis pilulis, quae ad completionem horarum decidebant, et casu suo subjectum sibi cymbal urn tinnire faciebant.
Page 202 - Intervening between two different stages of cultivation, the fifteenth century forms a transition epoch belonging at once to the middle ages and to the commencement of modern times. It is the epoch of the greatest discoveries in geographical space, comprising almost all degrees of latitude and almost every gradation of elevation of the earth's surface. To the inhabitants of Europe it doubled the works of creation, while at the same time it offered to the intellect new and powerful incitements to...