Humboldt's Latin American Expedition, 1799–1804

Richard Paselk, Curator

Tableau physique of Chimborazo

The Tableau physique embodies Humboldt’s determination to relate all of nature and its interactions. The colored portion shows the land surface (vegetation type, snow cover etc.) and atmospheric properties (sky color, cloud types etc.) for the equatorial Andes, with text correlations to European examples. Picture shows vegetation zones and snowlines on Chimborazo with a cross-section showing plant distribution by altitude (note slopes to show zones and width showing variation of zones in the Andes). The background shows cloud heights, sky color, etc.

The 16 data columns on either side (nine to left, seven to right) summarize some of Humboldt’s observations, e.g.: (1) light refraction, (4) atmospheric electrical phenomena, (6) gravitational force, (7) blueness, (8) humidity, (9) barometric pressure, (10) temperature in °C, (14) boiling point of water, and (16) light intensity. The four Échelle columns show altitude.

© R. Paselk 2013, Last modified 25 December 2020