Von Humboldt's two-volume study represents a significant and important contribution to the general understanding of the physical world in the nineteenth century. Volume 1 explains celestial and terrestrial phenomena, while Volume 2 examines poetic descriptions of nature, landscape painting, and how the physical universe was comprehended through history.

Investigating the relationship between the 'general and the special' in nature, Humboldt's Cosmos constitutes an original contribution to modern science.