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—A curious Hebrew pub-lication has just issued from the Berlin press, a
bio-graphy of Alexander von Humboldt, written in theancient tongue of
Moses, and destined to extendthe knowledge of the life and scientific
labors of thiscelebrated man in the wide circle of the Russo-Polishand
Asiatic Jews. The full title is, “Alexander
vonHumboldt: a Biographical Sketch. Dedicated tothe Nestor of
Wisdom on his 88th birthday. ByS. Slominski.” The author is a
Russian Israelite,who some years ago invented a very clever
calculat-ing machine, and drew upon himself, at that time,by his
mathematical knowledge, the attention of thecelebrated astronomers Herren
Bessel and Jacoby,of Konigsberg. These gave him letters of
recom-mendation to Alexander von Humboldt, in Berlin,who, with his
accustomed benevolence, effectuallyassisted the poor Jewish scholar. The
first half,consisting of 100 pages of strong, correct, and flow-ing
Hebrew, is devoted to the life and general re-view of Humboldt’s
works; whilst the second formsa sketch of the Kosmos, and in which the authorspeaks of the double stars, and of
earthly magnet-ism, of volcanoes, and of the South-American Flora,in
such a way as to lead one to imagine that itwould be impossible to find
expressions worthy ofclothing the “ideas of this great Western
sage.”The author, who had transmitted the manuscript ofhis work
to Humboldt as a tribute of homage on his88th birthday, received from him
the following cha-racteristic reply:“Honored Herr Slominski: I owe you a thou-sand apologies for so long delaying my thanks forthe honor you have been pleased to confer uponme. The unquiet condition in which I live, in thisage of social and political excitement, can scarcelyplead my excuse. A recommendation from two re-nowned, and to me personally so dear friends asBessel and Jacoby, leaves a lasting impression. Astranger, alas! to Hebrew literature, but from myearliest youth intimately connected with the noblestof your co-religionists, and a warm and perseveringadvocate for their numerous and unjustly withheldrights, I am not indifferent to the honor you haveconferred upon me. The testimony of a learnedOriental linguist, the celebrated and highly learnedDr. Michael Sacks, (one of the Rabbis of the BerlinJewish congregation,) leads me to prize still morehighly this distinction. It is almost a comfort to himwho is the object of the praises not to be acquaintedwith the original language. After next Tuesday Ishall again reside during a few weeks in Berlin, andat that time, if you, Herr Slominski, have not yetreturned to Warsaw, I shall be pleased to see youdaily in Berlin between one and two o’clock, andpersonally renew the expressions of my high esteemfor your noble, prompt, and learned efforts.“Yours, with high esteem,“Alexander von Humboldt.”