The Invention of Nature

by Andrea Wulf

  59 AH sharing bed with Montúfar: Ibid., p.62.

  60 almost 18,000 feet and Condamine: Ibid., p.65.

  61 ‘deep wounds’ and ‘reason’: AH, 22 November 1799–7 February 1800, AH Diary 2000, p.179.

  Chapter 7: Chimborazo

  1 AH to Mexico: AH to WH, 25 November 1802, AH WH Letters 1880, p.54.

  2 ‘monstrous colossus’: Ibid., p.48.

  3 from Quito to Chimborazo: AH, 9–12 June and 12–28 June 1802, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, pp.94–104.

  4 ‘exerts a mysterious’: AH, About an Attempt to Climb to the Top of Chimborazo, Kutzinski 2012, p.136.

  5 AH’s Chimborazo climb: AH to WH, 25 November 1802, AH WH Letters 1880, p.48; AH, About an Attempt to Climb to the Top of Chimborazo, in Kutzinski 2012, pp.135–55; AH, 23 June 1802, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, pp.100–109.

  6 cuchilla ridge: AH, About an Attempt to Climb to the Top of Chimborazo, Kutzinski 2012, p.140.

  7 ‘was very dangerous’: AH, 23 June 1802, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, p.106.

  8 boiling water: AH Geography 2009, p.120; AH Geography 1807, pp.1613.

  9 19,413 feet (3036 toises): AH, 23 June 1802, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, p.106.

  10 ‘to connect ideas’: WH to Karl Gustav von Brinkmann, 18 March 1793, Heinz 2003, p.19.

  11 ‘a thousand threads’: Georg Gerland, 1869, Jahn 2004, p.19.

  12 ‘resemblance which we’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.3, p.160; see also p.495; AH pointed out these connections again and again in his Essay on Plant Geography (1807) but also in AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.3, p.490ff.; AH Aspects 1849, vol.2, p.3ff.; AH Views 2014, p.155ff.; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.2, p.3ff.

  13 alpine rose tree: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.3, p.453.

  14 trees Mexico and Canada, Europe: AH Geography 2009, pp.65–6; AH Geography 1807, p.5ff.

  15 everything connected: AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.1, p.xviii; AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.1, p.vi.

  16 vegetation zones Andes: AH Geography 2009, p.77; AH Geography 1807, p.35ff.; AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.1, p.11; AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.1, p.12.

  17 ‘a higher point of’: AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.1, p.40; AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.1, p.39.

  18 ‘a single glance’: AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.1, p.11; for mountains inspiring AH, see also p.347; AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.1, p.12.

  19 draft of Naturgemälde: AH Geography 2009, p.61; AH Geography 1807, p.iii; Holl 2009, pp.181–3 and Fiedler and Leitner 2000, p.234.

  20 ‘microcosm on one page’: AH to Marc-Auguste Pictet, 3 February 1805, Dove 1881, p.103.

  21 ‘Nature is a living whole’: AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.1, p.39, my translation (‘belebtes Naturganzes … Nicht ein todtes Aggregat ist die Natur’). The English translation is poor: ‘living connections’ doesn’t convey AH’s meaning, while the sentence about nature not being a dead aggregate is completely missing. AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.1, p.40.

  22 ‘universal profusion’: AH Aspects 1849, vol.2, p.3; AH Views 2014, p.155; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.2, p.3.

  23 ‘organic powers are’: AH Aspects 1849, vol.2, p.10; AH Views 2014, p.158; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.2, p.11.

  24 ‘in their relation’: AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.1, p.41; AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.1, p.40.

  25 Naturgemälde: The Naturgemälde was published in Humboldt’s Essay on the Geography of Plants (1807).

  26 ‘unity in variety’: AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.1, p.48; AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.1, p.55, my translation (‘Einheit in der Vielheit’).

  27 indigenous languages sophisticated: AH, 12 April 1803–20 January 1804, Mexico, AH Diary 1982, p.187; AH to WH, 25 November 1802, AH WH Letters 1880, pp.51–2.

  28 ‘future, eternity, existence’: Ibid., p.52.

  29 ancient manuscripts: Ibid., p.50.

  30 old trees scarce: AH Aspects 1849, vol.2, p.268; AH Views 2014, p.268; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.2, p.319; see also AH, 23–28 July 1802, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, pp.126–30.

  31 magnetic equator: AH, Abstract of Humboldt’s and Bonpland’s Expedition, end of June 1804, AH Letters USA 2004, p.507; Helferich 2005, p.242.

  32 AH about Humboldt Current: Kortum 1999, pp.98–100; in particular AH to Heinrich Berghaus, 21 February 1840, p.98.

  33 ‘observations from the’: AH Views 2014, p.244; AH Aspects 1849, vol.2, p.215; AH Ansichten 1849, vol.2, p.254.

  34 ‘the seemingly obvious’: AH’s guide in Mexico City about AH, 1803, Beck 1959, p.26.

  35 pockets full like a boy: Ibid., p.27.

  36 Cotopaxi erupted: AH, 31 January–6 February 1803, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, p.182ff.

  37 express messenger: Ibid., p.184.

  38 AH heard Cotopaxi: AH Cordilleras 1814, vol.1, p.119; AH Cordilleren 1810, vol.1, p.58.

  39 ‘I’m getting poorer day’: AH, 27 February 1803, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, p.190.

  Chapter 8: Politics and Nature

  1 Description hurricane: AH, 29 April–20 May 1804, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, p.301ff.

  2 AH close to death: Ibid., p.302.

  3 AH in Mexico: AH, Aus Meinem Leben (1769–1850), in Biermann 1987 p.103.

  4 reasons for AH to return to Europe: AH, Abstract of Humboldt’s and Bonpland’s Expedition, end of June 1804, AH Letters USA 2004, p.508.

  5 like living on moon: AH to Carl Ludwig Willdenow, 29 April 1803, AH Letters America 1993, p.230.

  6 ‘ideas of 1789’: AH Diary 1982, p.12.

  7 ‘temple of liberty’: AH to Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, 3 January 1791, AH Letters 1973, p.118.

  8 ‘understood the precious’: AH to Jefferson, 24 May 1804, Terra 1959, p.788.

  9 ‘Your writings, your’: Ibid., p.787.

  10 ‘having witnessed the’: AH to James Madison, 24 May 1804, ibid., p.796.

  11 ‘straight as a gun’: Edmund Bacon about Jefferson, Bear 1967, p.71.

  12 Jefferson’s grandchildren: In 1804, Jefferson had seven grandchildren: six from his daughter Martha (Anne Cary, Thomas Jefferson, Ellen Wayles, Cornelia Jefferson, Virginia Jefferson, Mary Jefferson) and one surviving grandchild from his late daughter Maria (Francis Wayles Eppes).

  13 Jefferson playing with grandchildren: Margaret Bayard Smith about Jefferson, Hunt 1906, p.405; see also Edmund Bacon about Jefferson, Bear 1967, p.85.

  14 Jefferson never idle: Edmund Bacon and Jefferson’s Memoir about Jefferson, Bear 1967, pp.12, 18, 72–8.

  15 ‘most dangerous poison’: Jefferson to Martha Jefferson, 21 May 1787, TJ Papers, vol.11, p.370.

  16 ‘malady of Bibliomanie’: Jefferson to Lucy Paradise, 1 June 1789, ibid., vol.15, p.163.

  17 Jefferson touring Europe: Wulf 2011, pp.35–57, 70.

  18 Lewis and Clark expedition: Jefferson’s Instructions to Lewis, 1803, Jackson 1978, vol.1, pp.61–6.

  19 ‘this new world with’: Jefferson to AH, 28 May 1804, Terra 1959, p.788; see also Vincent Gray to James Madison, 8 May 1804, Madison Papers SS, vol.7, pp.191–2.

  20 journey to Washington: Charles Willson Peale Diary, 29 May–21 June 1804, entry 29 May 1804, Peale 1983–2000, vol.2, pt.2, p.680ff.

  21 US economy: North 1974, p.70ff.

  22 nation of farmers versus merchants: Wulf 2011, p.83ff.

  23 political meaning of design of Washington: Ibid., p.129ff.

  24 size of Washington: Friis 1959, p.171.

  25 carriages overturned: John Quincy Adams, in Young 1966, p.44.

  26 White House: The White House was still called the President’s House. The first recorded use of the name ‘White House’ was only in 1811. Wulf 2011, p.125.

  27 Jefferson’s laundry: William Muir Whitehill in 1803, Froncek 1977, p.85.

  28 ‘state of uncleanly desolation’: Thomas Moore in 1804, Norton 1976, p.211.

  29 demystifying office of President: Wulf 2011, p.145ff.

  30 coat ‘thread bare’: William Plumer, 10 November 1804 and 29 July 1805, Plumer 1923, pp.193, 333.

  31 ‘a large-boned farmer’: Sir Augustus John Foster in 1805–7, Foster 1954, p.10.
<
br />   32 ‘No occupation is so’: Jefferson to Charles Willson Peale, 20 August 1811, TJ Papers RS, vol.4, p.93.

  33 ‘never did a prisoner’: Jefferson to Pierre-Samuel Dupont de Nemours, 2 March 1809, Jefferson 1944, p. 394.

  34 ‘the lowliest weed’: Margaret Bayard Smith about Jefferson, Hunt 1906, p.393.

  35 seeds to White House: Wulf 2011, p.149.

  36 Jefferson and mastodon: Thomson 2012, p.51ff.

  37 Jefferson obsessed with many subjects: For details see Jefferson 1997 and Jefferson 1944; Jefferson to Ellen Wayles Randolph, 8 December 1807, Jefferson 1986, p.316; Edmund Bacon about Jefferson, Bear 1967, p.33.

  38 president APS: Jefferson to American Philosophical Society, 28 January 1797, TJ Papers, vol. 29, p.279.

  39 ‘the enlightened philosopher’: Alexander Wilson to William Bartram, 4 March 1805, Wilson 1983, p.232.

  40 AH met Jefferson: Charles Willson Peale Diary, 29 May–21 June 1804, entry, 2 June 1804, Peale 1983–2000, vol.2, pt.2, p.690.

  41 Jefferson’s private study: Margaret Bayard Smith about Jefferson, Hunt 1906, pp.385, 396; for inventions, see Isaac Jefferson about Jefferson, Bear 1967, p.18; Thomson 2012, p.166ff.

  42 ‘you have found me playing’: Margaret Bayard Smith about Jefferson, Hunt 1906, p.396.

  43 ‘living with the simplicity’: AH to Jefferson, 27 June 1804, Terra 1959, p.789.

  44 AH in Washington: Charles Willson Peale Diary, 29 May–21 June 1804, Peale 1983–2000, vol.2, pt.2, pp.690–700.

  45 ‘object of universal’: Caspar Wistar jr to James Madison, 29 May 1804, Madison Papers SS, vol.7, p.265.

  46 ‘exquisite intellectual treat’: Albert Gallatin to Hannah Gallatin, 6 June 1804, Friis 1959, p.176.

  47 ‘all the ladies say’: Dolley Madison to Anna Payne Cutts, 5 June 1804, ibid., p.175.

  48 AH briefed politicians: Albert Gallatin to Hannah Gallatin, 6 June 1804, ibid., p.176.

  49 AH’s maps: Charles Willson Peale, Diary, 29 May–21 June 1804, entry 30 May 1804, Peale 1983–2000, vol.2, pt.2, p.684; Louis Agassiz later said that AH’s measurements showed that previous maps had been so imperfect that Mexico’s position differed by about 300 miles, Agassiz 1869, pp.14–15.

  50 knowledge was ‘astonishing’: Albert Gallatin to Hannah Gallatin, 6 June 1804, Friis 1959, p.176.

  51 Jefferson collecting material on Mexico: Ibid., p.177; Jefferson’s table with information ‘Louisiana and Texas Description, 1804’, DLC; see also Terra 1959, p.786.

  52 ‘twice as fast as’: Albert Gallatin to Hannah Gallatin, 6 June 1804, Friis 1959, p.176.

  53 ‘mixing them together’: Charles Willson Peale Diary, 29 May–21 June 1804, entry 29 May 1804, Peale 1983–2000, vol.2, pt.2, p.683.

  54 ‘fountain of knowledge’: Charles Willson Peale to John DePeyster, 27 June 1804, ibid., p.725.

  55 ‘very extraordinary man’: Albert Gallatin to Hannah Gallatin, 6 June 1804, Friis 1959, p.176.

  56 ‘most scientific man’: Jefferson to William Armistead Burwell, 1804, ibid., p.181.

  57 disputed border: Jefferson to AH, 9 June 1804, Terra 1959, p.789; see also Rebok 2006, p.131; Rebok 2014, pp.48–50.

  58 ‘between those lines’: Jefferson to AH, 9 June 1804, Terra 1959, p.789.

  59 ‘their nations may be’: Jefferson to John Hollins, 19 February 1809, Rebok 2006, p.126.

  60 information about disputed territory: AH to Jefferson, undated, AH Letters America 1993, p.307.

  61 ‘treasures of information’: Jefferson to Caspar Wistar, 7 June 1804, DLC.

  62 AH’s notes for Jefferson: Friis 1959, pp.178–9; AH’s report for Jefferson, and AH, Abstract of Humboldt’s and Bonpland’s Expedition, end of June 1804: AH Letters USA 2004, pp.484–94, 497–509.

  63 Jefferson’s Cabinet meeting: Jefferson to James Madison 4 July 1804 and Jefferson to Albert Gallatin, 3 July 1804, Madison Papers SS, vol.7, p.421.

  64 ‘best air of all is’: AH to Albert Gallatin, 20 June 1804; see also AH to Jefferson, 27 June 1804, Terra 1959, pp.789, 801.

  65 this ‘beautiful land’: AH to James Madison, 21 June 1804, ibid., p.796.

  66 ‘either by violence’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.3, p.2.

  67 ‘human machine’: AH, 7 August–10 September 1803, Guanajuato, Mexico, AH Diary 1982, p.211.

  68 AH on repartimiento: AH, 9–12 September 1802, Hualgayoc, Peru, ibid., p.208.

  69 ‘fell from the sky’: AH, February 1802, Quito, ibid., p.106.

  70 ’based on ‘immorality’: AH, 23 October–24 December 1802, Lima, Peru, ibid., p.232.

  71 ‘slightly raked to’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.3, p.79.

  72 ‘impoverishes the soil’: Ibid., vol.4, p.120.

  73 ‘like a mine’ and AH’s prediction: AH, 22 February 1800, AH Diary 2000, pp.208–9.

  74 deforestation Cuba: AH Cuba 2011, p.115; AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.7, p.201.

  75 ‘those vegetables which’: AH New Spain 1811, vol.3, p.105; see also AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.7, p.161; AH Cuba 2011, p.95.

  76 ‘island would starve’: AH, 23 June–8 July 1801, AH Diary 2003, vol.1, p.87.

  77 subsistence farming: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.7, p.161; AH Cuba 2011, p.95; AH New Spain 1811, vol.3, p.105.

  78 ‘very tight wall’: AH, 30 March 1800, AH Diary 2000, p.238.

  79 irrigations system Mexico City: AH, 1–2 August 1803, AH Diary 2003, vol.2, pp.253–7.

  80 water engineers and follies: AH, 30 March 1800, AH Diary 2000, p.238.

  81 ‘The only capital’: AH New Spain 1811, vol.3, p.454.

  82 ‘imprudent activities’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.7, p.236.

  83 ‘I think our governments’: Jefferson to James Madison, 20 December 1787, TJ Papers, vol.12, p.442.

  84 ‘millions yet unborn’: Jefferson to Representatives of the Territory of Indiana, 28 December 1805, DLC.

  85 Jefferson experiments in agriculture: Wulf 2011, pp.113–20; see also for crop rotation: Jefferson to George Washington, 12 September 1795, TJ Papers, vol.28, pp.464–5; 19 June 1796, TJ Papers, vol.29, pp.128–9; for mould board plough: TJ to John Sinclair, 23 March 1798, TJ Papers, vol. 30, p.202; Thomson 2012, pp.171–2.

  86 ‘I expect every day’: Jefferson to James Madison, 19 May, 9 June, 1 September 1793, TJ Papers, vol.26, pp.62, 241, vol.27, p.7.

  87 ‘greatest service which’: Jefferson, Summary of Public Service, after 2 September 1800, ibid., vol. 32, p.124.

  88 Jefferson and plants: For upland rice, see Wulf 2011, p.70; Jefferson to Edward Rutledge, 14 July 1787, TJ Papers, vol.11, p.587; for death penalty, see Jefferson to John Jay, 4 May 1787, TJ Papers, vol.11, p.339; for sugar maple orchards, see Wulf 2011, p.94ff.; for 330 varieties of vegetables, see Hatch 2012, p.4.

  89 ‘the true representatives’: Jefferson to Arthur Campbell, 1 September 1797, TJ Papers, vol.29, p.522.

  90 ‘have no country’: Jefferson to Horatio Gates Spafford, 17 March 1814, TJ RS Papers, vol.7, p.248; Jefferson on ownership of land and morals, see Jefferson 1982, p.165.

  91 ‘The small landholders’: Jefferson to Madison, 28 October 1785, TJ Papers, vol.8, p.682.

  92 50 acres for each free man: Jefferson’s draft for the Virginia constitution, before 13 June 1776 (all three drafts included this provision), TJ Papers, vol.1, p.337ff.

  93 ‘the more free’: Madison, ‘Republican Distribution of Citizens’, National Gazette, 2 March 1792.

  94 ‘sentiment of liberty’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.3, p.15.

  95 AH and immorality of slavery: AH Geography 2009, p.134; AH Geography 1807, p.171; see also AH Cuba 2012, p.142ff.; AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.7, p.260ff.

  96 ‘every drop of sugarcane’: AH, 23 June–8 July 1801, AH Diary 2003, vol.1, p.87.

  97 ‘call their civilization’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.1, p.127.

  98 ‘thirst for wealth’: Ibid., vol.3, p.3.

  99 Jeffe
rson carried on pillow: Wulf 2011, p.41.

  100 ‘absolutely incorruptible’: Jefferson to Edward Bancroft, 26 January 1789, TJ Papers, vol.14, p.492.

  101 ‘the greatest evil’: AH Cuba 2011, p.144; AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.7, p.263.

  102 ‘disgrace’ and ‘according to the value’: AH to William Thornton, 20 June 1804, AH Letters America 1993, pp.199–200.

  103 ‘if it was more pleasant’: AH, 4 Jan–17 February, ‘Colonies’, AH Diary 1982, p.66.

  104 treatment of slaves: AH, 9–10 June 1800, ibid., p.255.

  105 kitchen boy’s testicles: AH, Lima 23 October–24 December 1802, fragment titled ‘Missions’, ibid., p.145.

  106 parcelling up land in small farms: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, pp.126–7; see for farms between Honda and Bogotá, AH, 23 June–8 July 1801, AH Diary 2003, vol.1, p.87.

  107 ‘I love to dwell’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, p.128.

  108 ‘what is against nature’: AH, 23 June–8 July 1801, AH Diary 2003, vol.1, p.87.

  109 ‘inferior to the whites’: Jefferson 1982, p.143.

  110 ‘a common type’: AH Personal Narrative 1814–29, vol.4, p.474; for unity in human race, see also AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.1, pp.351, 355; AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.1, pp.381–5; AH Cordilleras 1814, vol.1, 1814, p.15.

  111 ‘all are alike designed’: AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.1, p.355; AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.1, p.385.

  112 ‘Nature is the domain’: AH Cosmos 1845–52, vol.1, p.3; AH Kosmos 1845–50, vol.1, p.4.

  Chapter 9: Europe

  1 frigate Favorite: AH to James Madison, 21 June 1804, Terra 1959, p.796.

  2 AH’s collections: AH Geography 2009, p.86; Wulf 2008, p.195; AH, Aus Meinem Leben (1769–1850), Biermann 1987, p.104.

  3 ‘How I long to be’: AH to Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre, 25 November 1802, Bruhns 1873, vol.1, p.324.

  4 ‘I’m so new that’: AH to Carl Freiesleben, 1 August 1804, AH Letters America 1993, p.310.

  5 AH chose Paris: AH, Aus Meinem Leben (1769–1850), in Biermann 1987, p.104.

  6 two elephants: Stott 2012, p.189.

  7 Paris under Napoleon: Horne 2004, p.162ff.; Marrinan 2009, p.298; John Scott, 1814, Scott 1816; Thomas Dibdin, 16 June 1818, Dibdin 1821, vol.2, pp.76–9.