A plea for the de-provincialization of thought: An attempt to depict nature as alive and in its sublime grandeur, tracing the persistent amidst the wave-like recurring change of physical variability. Humboldt overwhelms us with intellectual treasures. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The significance of "Cosmos" cannot be better described than in Humboldt's own words: "I am beginning the printing of my work (the work of my life). I have the wild idea to present the entire material world, everything we know today about the phenomena of the celestial spaces, from the nebulae to the geography of moss on granite rocks, all in one work, and in a work that simultaneously stimulates in vivid language and delights the mind. Every great and important idea that sparks up somewhere must be recorded here alongside the facts.".