Emerson toured Europe in 1833 and later wrote of his travels in English Traits (1856).McAleer, p. 132. He left aboard the brig Jasper on Christmas Day, 1832, sailing first to Malta.Baker, p. 23. During his European trip, he spent several months in Italy, visiting Rome, Florence and Venice, among other cities. When in Rome, he met with John Stuart Mill, who gave him a letter of recommendation to meet Thomas Carlyle. He went to Switzerland and had to be dragged by fellow passengers to visit Voltaire's home in Ferney, "protesting all the way upon the unworthiness of his memory".Richardson, p. 138. He then went on to Paris, a "loud modern New York of a place", where he visited the Jardin des Plantes. He was greatly moved by the organization of plants according to Jussieu's system of classification, and the way all such objects were related and connected. As Robert D. Richardson says, "Emerson's moment of insight into the interconnectedness of things in the Jardin des Plantes was a moment of almost visionary intensity that pointed him away from theology and toward science."Richardson, p. 143.
Emerson toured Europe in 1833 and later wrote of his travels in English Traits (1856).McAleer, p. 132. He left aboard the brig Jasper on Christmas Day, 1832, sailing first to Malta.Baker, p. 23. During his European trip, he spent several months in Italy, visiting Rome, Florence and Venice, among other cities. When in Rome, he met with John Stuart Mill, who gave him a letter of recommendation to meet Thomas Carlyle. He went to Switzerland and had to be dragged by fellow passen.gers to visit Voltaire's home in Ferney, "protesting all the way upon the unworthiness of his memory".Richardson, p. 138. He then went on to Paris, a "loud modern New York of a place", where he visited the Jardin des Plantes. He was greatly moved by the organization of plants according to Jussieu's system of classification, and the way all such objects were related and connected. As Robert D Richardson says, "Emerson's moment of insight into the i.nterconnectedness of things in the Jardin des Plantes was a moment of almost visionary intensity that pointed him away from theology and toward science."Richardson, p. 143