Humboldt
Humboldt names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Humboldt WILHELM VON, a German philologist
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
WILHELM VON, a German philologist, brother of Alexander; born in Potsdam, June 22, 1767. He was educated at Göttingen, and devoted to philological and literary studies; but he had strong practical gifts and elevated social sympathies. In 1789 he visited Paris to study the French Revolution, with which he sympathized; from 1802 to 1819 he was in active official life; minister to Vienna, member of the Privy Council, Secretary of State, ambassador to London, etc.; finally quitting it in disgust at the corruption he would not share. Meantime and later he wrote critiques on Goethe and Homer, and scientific and literary monographs, and translated Æschylus and Pindar. His main work in philology is "On the Kawi Language of the Javanese," but he made other valuable studies of primitive dialects. He died in Tegel, near Berlin, April 8, 1835.
Humboldt ALEXANDER VON (höm'bōlt)
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
ALEXANDER VON (höm'bōlt), a distinguished German scientist; born in Berlin, Sept. 14, 1769. From childhood he delighted in zoölogical, physical, and geographical investigations. At 28, he began the series of voyages memorable in the annals of science. No name is likely ever to stand higher on his country's roll than his. The "Cosmos" is a sufficient proof. This monumental work on the physical universe was published in 4 volumes in 1845, 1847, 1850 and 1858 and immediately translated into all civilized languages. A book is needed to describe the extent of Humboldt's contribution to science. Consult Stoddart's "Life, Travels, and Books of A. von Humboldt."
Humboldt a river of Nevada
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a river of Nevada, rising in the N. E. part of the State, and flowing W. S. W. to Humboldt Sink, a lake over 40 miles in circumference, which has no outlet; outlet; length, nearly 350 miles. The river is unnavigable even for canoes. The region through which it flows is barren, and the banks are destitute of trees or shrubs. ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's called Wilhelm's study of Kawi (Old Javanese) his "main work in philology"; its introductory essay on the diversity of human language has since become a founding document of modern linguistics, invoked by Chomsky and behind the idea that a language shapes its speakers' thought. The Berlin university Wilhelm founded in 1810 was renamed Humboldt-Universität in 1949 in honour of both brothers. Alexander, whom Collier's praised chiefly for "Cosmos" (a fifth, unfinished volume appeared in 1862), is now read as a forerunner of ecology and of the idea that human activity alters climate, a reputation much revived by Andrea Wulf's 1815-style biography "The Invention of Nature" (2015). The Nevada river has fared worst: irrigation diversions and a dam on the lower river, built in the 1930s, mean Humboldt Sink, described as "a lake over 40 miles in circumference," is now usually a dry playa, and Interstate 80 follows the old emigrant route along the valley.
Written for this edition, 2026.