of the German original, or of Faye’s French version, will hunt in
vain for the long and noble paragraph above quoted ! It is simply
expunged : probably not to shock the conservatism of the Royal
Society. Promotion might have been stopped, long ago, by the
“ lords spiritual and temporal,” had an officer in H. M. Service
dared even to translate such heretical opinions as those avowed by
the brothers Humboldt: the “ For. Sec.” would have soon ceased
to be Secretary at all, to any Royal Society.
In the second, we refer to Otté’s translation;11 learning from his
preface—“ The present volumes differ from those of Mrs. Sabine in
having all the foreign measures converted into English terms, in
being published at considerably less than one-third of the price, and
in being a translation of the entire work; for I have not conceived
myself justified in omitting passages, simply because they might he
deemed slightly obnoxious to our national prejudices." Fair enough
this seems. That which routine and expectancies naturally forbade
the official to do, “ into English,” might, one would suppose, he
honestly performed by a private individual. Nevertheless, upon
verification, we discover this to he, also, as Talleyrand once observed
to Castlereagh, “une très forte supposition!” By paraphrasis and
periphrasis, through dextrous substitutions of milder terms, and a
happy adoption of equivocal interpretations, Mr. Otté has effaced
the precision of his author’s language ; obscuring thereby both of
the Humboldts’ scientific deductions so effectually, that their suppo-
sititiously-joint advocacy of “ all mankind’s descent from Adam
and Eve,” meets everywhere with the gratitude and applause of
wondering theologers !
To render this evident, I have chosen the French translation,
above cited, as an appropriate epigraph and introduction to the
subjects developed in the present chapter. At foot, the reader will
find Qtté’s English12 rendering of the German text ; which is like-
11 Id.,—“ Translated from the German, by E. C. Ot to , ” and before cited. Harpers’ New
York edition, 1850. I wonder whether it is the same, textually, as B o h n ’s ; which donbt
inclination does not now prompt me to take some trouble in verifying.
12 Extract from Ot t é ’s Cosmos, Amer, éd., pp. 354-5:__
“ Geographical investigations regarding the ancient seat, the so-called cradle of the human
race, are not devoid of a mythical character. ‘We do not know,’ says Wilhelm von Humboldt,
m an unpublished work On the Varieties of Languages and Nations, I either from
history or from authentic tradition, any period of time in which the human race has not
been divided into social groups. Whether the gregarious condition was original, or of
subsequent occurrence, we have no historic evidence to show. The separate mythical
relations found to exist independently of one another, in different parts of-the earth,
appear to refute the first hypothesis ; and concur in ascribing the generation of the whole
human race to the union of one pair. The general prevalence of this myth has caused it
to be regarded as a traditionary record transmitted from the primitive man to his descendwise
subjoined. Unfortunately, want of familiarity with the latter
tongue precludes personal comparison of this translation with the
original; but, for the accuracy of its French interpretation, we
ants. But this very circumstance seems rather to prove that it has no historical foundation,
but has simply arisen from an identity in the mode of intellectual conception, which
has everywhere led man to adopt the same conclusion regarding identical phenomena; in
the same manner as many myths have doubtless arisen, not from any historical connection
existing between them, butfnqm an identity in human thought and imagination. Another
evidence in favor of the purely mythical nature of this belief, is afforded by the fact that
the first origin of mankind—a phenomenon which is wholly beyond the sphere of experience—
is explained in perfect conformity with existing views, being considered on the
principle of the colonization of some desert island or remote mountainous valley, at a
period when mankind had already existed for thousands of years. It is in vain that we
direct our thoughts to the solution of the great problem of the first origin, since man is
too intimately associated with his own race, and with the relations of time, to conceive of
the existence of an individual independently of a preceding generation and age. A solution
of those .difficult questions, which can not be determined by inductive reasoning or by experience—
whether the belief in this presumed traditional condition be actually based on
historical evidence, or whether mankind inhabited the earth in gregarious associations from
the origin of the race—cannot, therefore, be determined from philological data; and yet
its elucidation ought not to be sought for from other sources.’ ”
“ Die geographischen Forschungen über den alten Sitz, die sogennante Wi e ge des
M e n s c h e n g e s c h l e c h t s haben in der That einen rein mythischen Charakter. ‘Wir
kennen,’ sagt Wi lhe lm von Humbo l dt in einer noch u n g e d r u c k t e n Arbeit über
die Verschiedenheit der Sprachen und Völker, ‘geschichtlich oder auch nur durch irgend
sichere Ueberlieferung keinen Zeitpunkt, in welchem das Menschengeschlecht nicht in
Völkerhaufen getrennt gewesen wäre. Ob dieser Zustand der ursprüngliche war oder erst
später entstand, läszt sich daher geschichtlich nicht entscheiden. Einzelne, an sehr
verschiedenen Punkten der Erde, ohne irgend sichtbaren Zusammenhang, wiederkehrende
Sagen verneinen die erstere Annahme, und lassen das ganze Menschengeschlecht von
Einem Mensohenpaare abstammen. Die weite Verbreitung dieser Sage hat sie bisweilen
für eine Urerinnerung der Menschheit halten lassen. Gerade dieser Umstand aber beweist
vielmehr dasz ihr keine Ueberlieferung und nichts geschichtliches zum Grunde lag, sondern
nur die Gleichheit der menschlichen Vorstellungsweise^zu derselben Erklärung der gleichen
Erscheinung führte: wie gewisz viele Mythen, ohne geschichtlichen Zusammenhang, blosz
aus der Gleichheit des menschlichen Dichtens und Grübelns entstanden. Jene Sage trägt
auch darin ganz das Gepräge menschlicher Erfindung, dasz sie die auszer aller Erfahrung
liegende Erscheinung des ersten Entstehens des Menschengeschlechts auf eine innerhalb
heutiger Erfahrung liegende Weise, und so erklären will, wie in Zeiten, wo das ganze
Menschengeschlecht schon Jahrtausende hindurch bestanden hatte, eine wüste Insel oder
ein abgesondertes Gebirgsthal mag bevölkert worden sein. Vergeblich würde sich das
Nachdenken in das Problem jener ersten Entstehung vertieft haben, da der Mensch so an
sein Geschlecht und an die Zeit gebunden ist, dasz sich ein Einzelner ohne vorhandenes
Geschlecht und ohne Vergangenheit gar nicht in menschlichem Dasein fassen läszt. Ob
also in dieser weder auf dem Wege der Gedanken noch der Erfahrung zu entscheidenden
Frage wirklich jener angebüch traditionelle Zustand der geschichtliche war, oder ob das
Menschengeschlecht von seinem Beginnen an völkerweise den Erbdoden bewohnte ? darf
die Sprachkunde weder aus sich bestimmen, noch, die Entscheidung anderswoher nehmend,
zum Erklärungsgrunde für sich brauchen wollen.’ ”
(“ Kosmos. Entwurf einer physichen Weltheschreibung,” von A l e x a n d e r v o n H u m b
o l d t . Fünfte Lieferung, Stuttgard und Tübingen, pp. 381-2.)