Research Article
Scientific Exploration of Alexander von Humboldt (1799-1804): Its Sublimation into Scientific Practices as Viewed from His Plant Geography
Ewha Womans University
Published: June 2009 · Vol. 31 No. 1 · pp. 169-206
Full Text
Abstract
Alexander von Humboldt, naturalist and explorer, spent 5 years in the equinoctial regions of New World travelling in the Spanish possessions on foot, on mules, on boats, surveying and collecting. Accompanied by his friend Aimé Bonpland, a physician and botanist, Humboldt had the unique opportunity to study low-lying plains and extensive mountain ranges, one of the most enormous river systems of the world, active and extinct volcanoes. In a journey of 6000 miles, Humboldt was committed to what he called “physique du monde,” universal science which would comprehend both the unity and diversity of nature. The geography of plants, to Humboldt, and the geography of vegetation had a major part to play within this cosmological scheme.
His scientific travel was to encompass an extensive study of the earth’s many features and forces with accurate scientific instrumentation. All phenomena were related to the idea of measurement and height: temperature of the air, atmospheric pressure, geognostical view of the tropic world, etc. The physical data were then correlated with the occurrence of the various types of vegetation, which led to the laws governing the distribution of vegetation. Humboldt’s theory of the magnificent isoline, a device of enclosing areas of equal mean temperature and pressure, defined natural vegetational regions, characterized by distinctive sort of plants. The vegetational regions were often distinguished by physiognomy―for example, the lichens, the confiners.
Humboldt’s plant geography transcended what were seen as the limitations of Linnean botany by addressing itself not to what were seen as arbitrarily isolated taxonomic entities, but to real natural wholes. Humboldt attributed his plant geography to his painstaking empiricism, the breadth of intellectual interest, the passion for the beauties of nature, and the commitment to a universal science. It was the scientific exploration that made Humboldt to arrive at the geography of vegetation and, in particular, plant geography, with a rigorous method of empiricism.
His scientific travel was to encompass an extensive study of the earth’s many features and forces with accurate scientific instrumentation. All phenomena were related to the idea of measurement and height: temperature of the air, atmospheric pressure, geognostical view of the tropic world, etc. The physical data were then correlated with the occurrence of the various types of vegetation, which led to the laws governing the distribution of vegetation. Humboldt’s theory of the magnificent isoline, a device of enclosing areas of equal mean temperature and pressure, defined natural vegetational regions, characterized by distinctive sort of plants. The vegetational regions were often distinguished by physiognomy―for example, the lichens, the confiners.
Humboldt’s plant geography transcended what were seen as the limitations of Linnean botany by addressing itself not to what were seen as arbitrarily isolated taxonomic entities, but to real natural wholes. Humboldt attributed his plant geography to his painstaking empiricism, the breadth of intellectual interest, the passion for the beauties of nature, and the commitment to a universal science. It was the scientific exploration that made Humboldt to arrive at the geography of vegetation and, in particular, plant geography, with a rigorous method of empiricism.