{
  "schema": "tga.work.v1",
  "identifier": "dresden:vol-1:humboldt",
  "slug": "humboldt",
  "title": "Humboldt",
  "subtitle": "The Universe is Governed by Law",
  "excerpt": "Delivered at the Humboldt centennial in 1869 — a tribute to the great naturalist that marked the beginning of Ingersoll's public freethought career.",
  "year": 1869,
  "volume": 1,
  "category": "Lecture",
  "author": {
    "name": "Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "wikidata": "Q360326",
    "viaf": "44331023"
  },
  "isPartOf": {
    "title": "The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "edition": "Dresden Edition",
    "publisher": "C. P. Farrell",
    "year": 1900
  },
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/",
  "url": "https://thegreatagnostic.com/works/humboldt/",
  "wordCount": 4474,
  "body": "GREAT men seem to be a part of the infinite—brothers of the mountains\nand the seas.\n\nHumboldt was one of these. He was one of those serene men, in some\nrespects like our own Franklin, whose names have all the lustre of a\nstar. He was one of the few, great enough to rise above the superstition\nand prejudice of his time, and to know that experience, observation, and\nreason are the only basis of knowledge.\n\nHe became one of the greatest of men in spite of having been born rich\nand noble—in spite of position. I say in spite of these things,\nbecause wealth and position are generally the enemies of genius, and the\ndestroyers of talent.\n\nIt is often said of this or that man, that he is a self-made man—that\nhe was born of the poorest and humblest parents, and that with every\nobstacle to overcome he became great. This is a mistake. Poverty is\ngenerally an advantage. Most of the intellectual giants of the world\nhave been nursed at the sad and loving breast of poverty. Most of those\nwho have climbed highest on the shining ladder of fame commenced at the\nlowest round. They were reared in the straw-thatched cottages of Europe;\nin the log-houses of America; in the factories of the great cities; in\nthe midst of toil; in the smoke and din of labor, and on the verge of\nwant. They were rocked by the feet of mothers whose hands, at the same\ntime, were busy with the needle or the wheel.\n\nIt is hard for the rich to resist the thousand allurements of pleasure,\nand so I say, that Humboldt, in spite of having been born to wealth and\nhigh social position, became truly and grandly great.\n\nIn the antiquated and romantic castle of Tegel, by the side of the pine\nforest, on the shore of the charming lake, near the beautiful city of\nBerlin, the great Humboldt, one hundred years ago to-day, was born, and\nthere he was educated after the method suggested by Rousseau,—Campe,\nthe philologist and critic, and the intellectual Kunth being his tutors.\nThere he received the impressions that determined his career; there the\ngreat idea that the universe is governed by law, took possession of\nhis mind, and there he dedicated his life to the demonstration of this\nsublime truth.\n\nHe came to the conclusion that the source of man's unhappiness is his\nignorance of nature.\n\nAfter having received the most thorough education at that time possible,\nand having determined to what end he would devote the labors of his\nlife, he turned his attention to the sciences of geology, mining,\nmineralogy, botany, the distribution of plants, the distribution\nof animals, and the effect of climate upon man. All grand physical\nphenomena were investigated and explained. From his youth he had felt a\ngreat desire for travel. He felt, as he says, a violent passion for\nthe sea, and longed to look upon nature in her wildest and most rugged\nforms. He longed to give a physical description of the universe—a grand\npicture of nature; to account for all phenomena; to discover the laws\ngoverning the world; to do away with that splendid delusion called\nspecial providence, and to establish the fact that the universe is\ngoverned by law.\n\nTo establish this truth was, and is, of infinite importance to mankind.\nThat fact is the death-knell of superstition; it gives liberty to every\nsoul, annihilates fear, and ushers in the Age of Reason.\n\nThe object of this illustrious man was to comprehend the phenomena of\nphysical objects in their general connection, and to represent nature as\none great whole, moved and animated by internal forces.\n\nFor this purpose he turned his attention to descriptive botany,\ntraversing distant lands and mountain ranges to ascertain with certainty\nthe geographical distribution of plants. He investigated the laws\nregulating the differences of temperature and climate, and the changes\nof the atmosphere. He studied the formation of the earth's crust,\nexplored the deepest mines, ascended the highest mountains, and wandered\nthrough the craters of extinct volcanoes.\n\nHe became thoroughly acquainted with chemistry, with astronomy, with\nterrestrial magnetism; and as the investigation of one subject leads\nto all others, for the reason that there is a mutual dependence and a\nnecessary connection between all facts, so Humboldt became acquainted\nwith all the known sciences.\n\nHis fame does not depend so much upon his discoveries (although he\ndiscovered enough to make hundreds of reputations) as upon his vast and\nsplendid generalizations.\n\nHe was to science what Shakespeare was to the drama.\n\nHe found, so to speak, the world full of unconnected facts—all portions\nof a vast system—parts of a great machine; he discovered the connection\nthat each bears to all; put them together, and demonstrated beyond all\ncontradiction that the earth is governed by law.\n\nHe knew that to discover the connection of phenomena is the primary aim\nof all natural investigation. He was infinitely practical.\n\nOrigin and destiny were questions with which he had nothing to do.\n\nHis surroundings made him what he was.\n\nIn accordance with a law not fully comprehended, he was a production of\nhis time.\n\nGreat men do not live alone; they are surrounded by the great; they are\nthe instruments used to accomplish the tendencies of their generation;\nthey fulfill the prophecies of their age.\n\nNearly all of the scientific men of the eighteenth century had the same\nidea entertained by Humboldt, but most of them in a dim and confused\nway. There was, however, a general belief among the intelligent that\nthe world is governed by law, and that there really exists a connection\nbetween all facts, _or that all facts are simply the different aspects\nof a general fact_, and that the task of science is to discover this\nconnection; to comprehend this general fact or to announce the laws of\nthings.\n\nGermany was full of thought, and her universities swarmed with\nphilosophers and grand thinkers in every department of knowledge.\n\nHumboldt was the friend and companion of the greatest poets, historians,\nphilologists, artists, statesmen, critics, and logicians of his time.\n\nHe was the companion of Schiller, who believed that man would be\nregenerated through the influence of the Beautiful; of Goethe, the grand\npatriarch of German literature; of Weiland, who has been called\nthe Voltaire of Germany; of Herder, who wrote the outlines of a\nphilosophical history of man; of Kotzebue, who lived in the world of\nromance; of Schleiermacher, the pantheist; of Schlegel, who gave to\nhis countrymen the enchanted realm of Shakespeare; of the sublime Kant,\nauthor of the first work published in Germany on Pure Reason; of Fichte,\nthe infinite idealist; of Schopenhauer, the European Buddhist who\nfollowed the great Gautama to the painless and dreamless Nirwana, and\nof hundreds of others, whose names are familiar to and honored by the\nscientific world.\n\nThe German mind had been grandly roused from the long lethargy of the\ndark ages of ignorance, fear, and faith. Guided by the holy light of\nreason, every department of knowledge was investigated, enriched and\nillustrated.\n\nHumboldt breathed the atmosphere of investigation; old ideas were\nabandoned; old creeds, hallowed by centuries, were thrown aside; thought\nbecame courageous; the athlete, Reason, challenged to mortal combat the\nmonsters of superstition.\n\nNo wonder that under these influences Humboldt formed the great purpose\nof presenting to the world a picture of Nature, in order that men might,\nfor the first time, behold the face of their Mother.\n\nEurope becoming too small for his genius, he visited the tropics in\nthe new world, where in the most circumscribed limits he could find the\ngreatest number of plants, of animals, and the greatest diversity of\nclimate, that he might ascertain the laws governing the production and\ndistribution of plants, animals and men, and the effects of climate\nupon them all. He sailed along the gigantic Amazon—the mysterious\nOrinoco—traversed the Pampas—climbed the Andes until he stood upon the\ncrags of Chimborazo, more than eighteen thousand feet above the level of\nthe sea, and climbed on until blood flowed from his eyes and lips.\nFor nearly five years he pursued his investigations in the new world,\naccompanied by the intrepid Bonpland. Nothing escaped his attention. He\nwas the best intellectual organ of these new revelations of science. He\nwas calm, reflective and eloquent; filled with a sense of the beautiful,\nand the love of truth. His collections were immense, and valuable beyond\ncalculation to every science. He endured innumerable hardships, braved\ncountless dangers in unknown and savage lands, and exhausted his fortune\nfor the advancement of true learning.\n\nUpon his return to Europe he was hailed as the second Columbus; as the\nscientific discoverer of America; as the revealer of a new world; as the\ngreat demonstrator of the sublime truth, that the universe is governed\nby law.\n\nI have seen a picture of the old man, sitting upon a mountain\nside—above him the eternal snow—below, the smiling valley of the\ntropics, filled with vine and palm; his chin upon his breast, his eyes\ndeep, thoughtful and calm—his forehead majestic—grander than the\nmountain upon which he sat—crowned with the snow of his whitened hair,\nhe looked the intellectual autocrat of this world.\n\nNot satisfied with his discoveries in America, he crossed the steppes\nof Asia, the wastes of Siberia, the great Ural range, adding to the\nknowledge of mankind at every step. His energy acknowledged no obstacle,\nhis life knew no leisure; every day was filled with labor and with\nthought.\n\nHe was one of the apostles of science, and he served his divine master\nwith a self-sacrificing zeal that knew no abatement; with an ardor that\nconstantly increased, and with a devotion unwavering and constant as the\npolar star.\n\nIn order that the people at large might have the benefit of his numerous\ndiscoveries, and his vast knowledge, he delivered at Berlin a course\nof lectures, consisting of sixty-one free addresses, upon the following\nsubjects:\n\nFive, upon the nature and limits of physical geography.\n\nThree, were devoted to a history of science.\n\nTwo, to inducements to a study of natural science.\n\nSixteen, on the heavens.\n\nFive, on the form, density, latent heat, and magnetic power of the\nearth, and to the polar light.\n\nFour, were on the nature of the crust of the earth, on hot springs\nearthquakes, and volcanoes.\n\nTwo, on mountains and the type of their formation.\n\nTwo, on the form of the earth's surface, on the connection of\ncontinents, and the elevation of soil over ravines.\n\nThree, on the sea as a globular fluid surrounding the earth.\n\nTen, on the atmosphere as an elastic fluid surrounding the earth, and on\nthe distribution of heat.\n\nOne, on the geographic distribution of organized matter in general.\n\nThree, on the geography of plants.\n\nThree, on the geography of animals, and\n\nTwo, on the races of men.\n\nThese lectures are what is known as the Cosmos, and present a scientific\npicture of the world—of infinite diversity in unity—of ceaseless\nmotion in the eternal grasp of law.\n\nThese lectures contain the result of his investigation, observation, and\nexperience; they furnish the connection between phenomena; they disclose\nsome of the changes through which the earth has passed in the countless\nages; the history of vegetation, animals and men, the effects of climate\nupon individuals and nations, the relation we sustain to other worlds,\nand demonstrate that all phenomena, whether insignificant or grand,\nexist in accordance with inexorable law.\n\nThere are some truths, however, that we never should forget:\nSuperstition has always been the relentless enemy of science; faith has\nbeen a hater of demonstration; hypocrisy has been sincere only in its\ndread of truth, and all religions are inconsistent with mental freedom.\n\nSince the murder of Hypatia in the fifth century, when the polished\nblade of Greek philosophy was broken by the club of ignorant\nCatholicism, until to-day, superstition has detested every effort of\nreason.\n\nIt is almost impossible to conceive of the completeness of the victory\nthat the church achieved over philosophy. For ages science was utterly\nignored; thought was a poor slave; an ignorant priest was master of the\nworld; faith put out the eyes of the soul; the reason was a trembling\ncoward; the imagination was set on fire of hell; every human feeling was\nsought to be suppressed; love was considered infinitely sinful; pleasure\nwas the road to eternal fire, and God was supposed to be happy only when\nhis children were miserable. The world was governed by an Almighty's\nwhim; prayers could change the order of things, halt the grand\nprocession of nature, could produce rain, avert pestilence, famine and\ndeath in all its forms. There was no idea of the certain; all depended\nupon divine pleasure or displeasure rather; heaven was full of\ninconsistent malevolence, and earth of ignorance. Everything was done to\nappease the divine wrath; every public calamity was caused by the\nsins of the people; by a failure to pay tithes, or for having, even in\nsecret, felt a disrespect for a priest. To the poor multitude, the earth\nwas a kind of enchanted forest, full of demons ready to devour, and\ntheological serpents lurking with infinite power to fascinate and\ntorture the unhappy and impotent soul. Life to them was a dim and\nmysterious labyrinth, in which they wandered weary, and lost, guided by\npriests as bewildered as themselves, without knowing that at every step\nthe Ariadne of reason offered them the long lost clue.\n\nThe very heavens were full of death; the lightning was regarded as the\nglittering vengeance of God, and the earth was thick with snares for the\nunwary feet of man. The soul was supposed to be crowded with the wild\nbeasts of desire; the heart to be totally corrupt, prompting only to\ncrime; virtues were regarded as deadly sins in disguise; there was a\ncontinual warfare being waged between the Deity and the Devil, for\nthe possession of every soul; the latter generally being considered\nvictorious. The flood, the tornado, the volcano, were all evidences of\nthe displeasure of heaven, and the sinfulness of man. The blight that\nwithered, the frost that blackened, the earthquake that devoured, were\nthe messengers of the Creator.\n\nThe world was governed by Fear.\n\nAgainst all the evils of nature, there was known only the defence of\nprayer, of fasting, of credulity, and devotion. _Man in his helplessness\nendeavored to soften the heart of God_. The faces of the multitude\nwere blanched with fear, and wet with tears; they were the prey of\nhypocrites, kings and priests.\n\nMy heart bleeds when I contemplate the sufferings endured by the\nmillions now dead; of those who lived when the world appeared to\nbe insane; when the heavens were filled with an infinite Horror who\nsnatched babes with dimpled hands and rosy cheeks from the white breasts\nof mothers, and dashed them into an abyss of eternal flame.\n\nSlowly, beautifully, like the coming of the dawn, came the grand truth,\nthat the universe is governed by law; that disease fastens itself\nupon the good and upon the bad; that the tornado cannot be stopped by\ncounting beads; that the rushing lava pauses not for bended knees, the\nlightning for clasped and uplifted hands, nor the cruel waves of the sea\nfor prayer; that paying tithes causes, rather than prevents famine; that\npleasure is not sin; that happiness is the only good; that demons and\ngods exist only in the imagination; that faith is a lullaby sung to put\nthe soul to sleep; that devotion is a bribe that fear offers to supposed\npower; that offering rewards in another world for obedience in this, is\nsimply buying a soul on credit; that knowledge consists in ascertaining\nthe laws of nature, and that wisdom is the science of happiness. Slowly,\ngrandly, beautifully, these truths are dawning upon mankind.\n\nFrom Copernicus we learned that this earth is only a grain of sand on\nthe infinite shore of the universe; that everywhere we are surrounded by\nshining worlds vastly greater than our own, all moving and existing in\naccordance with law. True, the earth began to grow small, but man began\nto grow great.\n\nThe moment the fact was, established that other worlds are governed\nby law, it was only natural to conclude that our little world was\nalso under its dominion. The old theological method of accounting for\nphysical phenomena by the pleasure and displeasure of the Deity was,\nby the intellectual, abandoned. They found that disease, death, life,\nthought, heat, cold, the seasons, the winds, the dreams of man, the\ninstinct of animals,—in short, that all physical and mental phenomena\nare governed by law, absolute, eternal and inexorable.\n\nLet it be understood that by the term Law is meant the same invariable\nrelations of succession and resemblance predicated of all facts\nspringing from like conditions. Law is a fact—not a cause. It is a\nfact, that like conditions produce like results: this fact is Law. When\nwe say that the universe is governed by law, we mean that this fact,\ncalled law, is incapable of change; that it is, has been, and forever\nwill be, the same inexorable, immutable Fact, inseparable from all\nphenomena. Law, in this sense, was not enacted or made. It could not\nhave been otherwise than as it is. That which necessarily exists has no\ncreator.\n\nOnly a few years ago this earth was considered the real center of\nthe universe; all the stars were supposed to revolve around this\ninsignificant atom. The German mind, more than any other, has done\naway with this piece of egotism. Purbach and Mullerus, in the fifteenth\ncentury, contributed most to the advancement of astronomy in their day.\nTo the latter, the world is indebted for the introduction of decimal\nfractions, which completed our arithmetical notation, and formed the\nsecond of the three steps by which, in modern times, the science\nof numbers has been so greatly improved; and yet, both of these men\nbelieved in the most childish absurdities, at least in enough of them,\nto die without their orthodoxy having ever been suspected.\n\nNext came the great Copernicus, and he stands at the head of the heroic\nthinkers of his time, who had the courage and the mental strength to\nbreak the chains of prejudice, custom, and authority, and to establish\ntruth on the basis of experience, observation and reason. He removed the\nearth, so to speak, from the centre of the universe, and ascribed to it\na two-fold motion, and demonstrated the true position which it occupies\nin the solar system.\n\nAt his bidding the earth began to revolve. At the command of his genius\nit commenced its grand flight mid the eternal constellations round the\nsun.\n\nFor fifty years his discoveries were disregarded. All at once, by the\nexertions of Galileo, they were kindled into so grand a conflagration as\nto consume the philosophy of Aristotle, to alarm the hierarchy of\nRome, and to threaten the existence of every opinion not founded upon\nexperience, observation, and reason.\n\nThe earth was no longer considered a universe, governed by the caprices\nof some revengeful Deity, who had made the stars out of what he had\nleft after completing the world, and had stuck them in the sky simply to\nadorn the night.\n\nI have said this much concerning astronomy because it was the first\nsplendid step forward! The first sublime blow that shattered the lance\nand shivered the shield of superstition; the first real help that\nman received from heaven; because it was the first great lever placed\nbeneath the altar of a false religion; the first revelation of the\ninfinite to man; the first authoritative declaration, that the universe\nis governed by law; the first science that gave the lie direct to the\ncosmogony of barbarism, and because it is the sublimest victory that the\nreason has achieved.\n\nIn speaking of astronomy, I have confined myself to the discoveries made\nsince the revival of learning. Long ago, on the banks of the Ganges,\nages before Copernicus lived, Aryabhatta taught that the earth is a\nsphere, and revolves on its own axis. This, however, does not detract\nfrom the glory of the great German. The discovery of the Hindu had been\nlost in the midnight of Europe—in the age of faith, and Copernicus was\nas much a discoverer as though Aryabhatta had never lived.\n\nIn this short address there is no time to speak of other sciences, and\nto point out the particular evidence furnished by each, to establish\nthe dominion of law, nor to more than mention the name of Descartes, the\nfirst who undertook to give an explanation of the celestial motions,\nor who formed the vast and philosophic conception of reducing all the\nphenomena of the universe to the same law; of Montaigne, one of the\nheroes of common sense; of Galvani, whose experiments gave the telegraph\nto the world; of Voltaire, who contributed more than any other of the\nsons of men to the destruction of religious intolerance; of August\nComte, whose genius erected to itself a monument that still touches the\nstars; of Guttenberg, Watt, Stephenson, Arkwright, all soldiers of\nscience, in the grand army of the dead kings.\n\nThe glory of science is, that it is freeing the soul—breaking the\nmental manacles—getting the brain out of bondage—giving courage to\nthought—filling the world with mercy, justice, and joy.\n\nScience found agriculture plowing with a stick reaping with a\nsickle—commerce at the mercy of the treacherous waves and the\ninconstant winds—a world without books—without schools man denying\nthe authority of reason, employing his ingenuity in the manufacture\nof instruments of torture, in building inquisitions and cathedrals.\nIt found the land filled with malicious monks—with persecuting\nProtestants, and the burners of men. It found a world full of fear;\nignorance upon its knees; credulity the greatest virtue; women treated\nlike beasts of burden; cruelty the only means of reformation.\n\nIt found the world at the mercy of disease and famine; men trying to\nread their fates in the stars, and to tell their fortunes by signs and\nwonders; generals thinking to conquer their enemies by making the sign\nof the cross, or by telling a rosary. It found all history full of petty\nand ridiculous falsehood, and the Almighty was supposed to spend most\nof his time turning sticks into snakes, drowning boys for swimming on\nSunday, and killing little children for the purpose of converting their\nparents. It found the earth filled with slaves and tyrants, the people\nin all countries downtrodden, half naked, half starved, without hope,\nand without reason in the world.\n\nSuch was the condition of man when the morning of science dawned upon\nhis brain, and before he had heard the sublime declaration that the\nuniverse is governed by law.\n\nFor the change that has taken place we are indebted solely to\nscience—the only lever capable of raising mankind. Abject faith is\nbarbarism; reason is civilization. To obey is slavish; to act from\na sense of obligation perceived by the reason, is noble. Ignorance\nworships mystery; Reason explains it: the one grovels, the other soars.\n\nNo wonder that fable is the enemy of knowledge. A man with a false\ndiamond shuns the society of lapidaries, and it is upon this principle\nthat superstition abhors science.\n\nIn all ages the people have honored those who dishonored them. They have\nworshiped their destroyers; they have canonized the most gigantic liars,\nand buried the great thieves in marble and gold. Under the loftiest\nmonuments sleeps the dust of murder.\n\nImposture has always worn a crown.\n\nThe world is beginning to change because the people are beginning\nto think. To think is to advance. Everywhere the great minds are\ninvestigating the creeds and the superstitions of men—the phenomena\nof nature, and the laws of things. At the head of this great army of\ninvestigators stood Humboldt—the serene leader of an intellectual\nhost—a king by the suffrage of Science, and the divine right of Genius.\n\nAnd to-day we are not honoring some butcher called a soldier—some\nwily politician called a statesman—some robber called a king, nor\nsome malicious metaphysician called a saint We are honoring the grand\nHumboldt, whose victories were all achieved in the arena of thought; who\ndestroyed prejudice, ignorance and error—not men; who shed light—not\nblood, and who contributed to the knowledge, the wealth, and the\nhappiness of all mankind.\n\nHis life was pure, his aims lofty, his learning varied and profound, and\nhis achievements vast.\n\nWe honor him because he has ennobled our race, because he has\ncontributed as much as any man living or dead to the real prosperity of\nthe world. We honor him because he honored us—because he labored\nfor others—because he was the most learned man of the most learned\nnation—because he left a legacy of glory to every human being. For\nthese reasons he is honored throughout the world. Millions are doing\nhomage to his genius at this moment, and millions are pronouncing his\nname with reverence and recounting what he accomplished.\n\nWe associate the name of Humboldt with oceans, continents, mountains,\nand volcanoes—with the great palms—the wide deserts—the snow-lipped\ncraters of the Andes—with primeval forests and European capitals—with\nwildernesses and universities—with savages and savans—with the lonely\nrivers of unpeopled wastes—with peaks and pampas, and steppes, and\ncliffs and crags—with the progress of the world—with every science\nknown to man, and with every star glittering in the immensity of space.\n\nHumboldt adopted none of the soul-shrinking creeds of his day; wasted\nnone of his time in the stupidities, inanities and contradictions of\ntheological metaphysics; he did not endeavor to harmonize the astronomy\nand geology of a barbarous people with the science of the nineteenth\ncentury. Never, for one moment, did he abandon the sublime standard of\ntruth; he investigated, he studied, he thought, he separated the gold\nfrom the dross in the crucible of his grand brain. He was never found on\nhis knees before the altar of superstition. He stood erect by the grand\ntranquil column of Reason. He was an admirer, a lover, an adorer of\nNature, and at the age of ninety, bowed by the weight of nearly\na century, covered with the insignia of honor, loved by a nation,\nrespected by a world, with kings for his servants, he laid his weary\nhead upon her bosom—upon the bosom of the universal Mother—and with\nher loving arms around him, sank into that slumber called Death.\n\nHistory added another name to the starry scroll of the immortals.\n\nThe world is his monument; upon the eternal granite of her hills he\ninscribed his name, and there upon everlasting stone his genius wrote\nthis, the sublimest of truths:\n\n\"The Universe is Governed by Law!\"\n"
}