Famous men of science / [Sarah Knowles Bolton].

  • Bolton, Sarah Knowles, 1841-1916.
Date:
1926
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Famous men of science / [Sarah Knowles Bolton]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    when he was forty-six years old, bringing into the family much landed property. Three children were born to them, a daughter who died in infancy, and the famous brothers, William and Alexander, the former two years older than the latter. The father, an exceedingly amiable and benevolent man, died when Alexander was but ten years old. The mother, left with her two sons, was wise enough to select superior tutors for them, deeming a good education their best preparation for a useful life. Much of their time was spent at their summer home at Tegel, on the banks of the Havel, about eight miles from Berlin. In 1778 Goethe went there for a visit, and the two Humboldt lads, nine and eleven years of age, played and talked with the leading mind of Germany. The children were not altogether happy there, as Alex¬ ander wrote a friend years afterward. “Vine-clad hills which here we call mountains, extensive plantations of foreign trees, the meadows surrounding the house, and lovely views of the lake with its picturesque banks await¬ ing the beholder at every turn, render this place undoubt¬ edly one of the most attractive residences in the neighbor¬ hood. If, in addition, you picture to yourself the high degree of luxury and taste that reigns in our home, you will indeed be surprised when I tell you that I never visit this place without a certain feeling of melancholy. . . . I passed most of that unhappy time (my youthful days) here at Tegel, among people who loved me, and showed me kindness, but with whom I had not the least sympa¬ thy, where I was subjected to a thousand restraints and much self-imposed solitude, and where I was often placed in circumstances that obliged me to maintain a close re¬ serve, and to make continual self-sacrifices. “Now that I am my own master, and living here with¬ out restraint, I am unable to yield myself to the charms