that she ruled her husband and moulded his policy in the interests of 

 England and even Frederick's death was attributed to her preference for 

 an English surgeon. The accession of the young Kaiser was jubilantly 

 hailed, as it was beUeved that he would maintain the Bismarckian 

 tradition. 



Once again, my stay with my family was very brief and, after three 

 days, I started for Paris, going by way of Trier and thus fulfilling my 

 long-cherished ambition aroused by the lithograph in our Plockstrasse 

 apartment in Heidelberg, where my Mother and I had lived nearly ten 

 years before. On that first visit, I could allow myself only one whole 

 day in Trier, but it was a day full of fascination, for that now insig- 

 nificant town was, during a century, the capital of the Roman Empire 

 and has kept "the most remarkable group of Roman remains north of 

 the Alps," The wonderful Porta Nigra is a monument unique in 

 Europe, and the Baths, the Imperial Palace, the Basilica of Constantine, 

 the Cathedral, the Amphitheatre and the Bridge are full of interest 

 for one who has a taste for Roman archaeology. The museum contains 

 a fascinating collection of marble and bronze sculpture, mosaics, glass, 

 etc. I bought a fat, dull and dry history by one Leonhardy; his book, 

 which I laboured through in Paris, is marred by bigoted Catholicism, 

 but is a mine of information. 



In Paris, I took rooms in a pension, 29 Boulevard Haussmann, which 

 Mrs. Post and her charges had just left and which she and her party 

 of girls had patronised in 1883. Its one drawback was the great distance 

 from the palaeontological museum, where I was to work. Before 

 coming to Paris, I had written to M. Filhol, who had no official position, 

 but was a rich independent (it would be misleading to call him an 

 amateur) who worked in cooperation with the Museum and the 

 Academie des Sciences. In this letter I asked M. Filhol to appoint a 

 time and place for me to meet him and see something of his famous 

 collections of fossil mammals. One evening, shortly after my arrival in 

 Paris, I was waited on by a young Scotsman, who behaved in a very 

 mysterious manner and seemed very suspicious of me. At last he pro- 

 duced my letter and asked me to explain it; it had been delivered to 

 M. Filhol, director of the Bon Marche shop, who had been much mys- 

 tified by it, which was not surprising. 



After some delay, I got into the Galerie de Paleontologie and was 

 permitted to take fossils from the cases and study them at my leisure. 

 Throughout my stay, however, an unfortunate attendant, in a blue 

 blouse, had to be with me, to make sure that I didn't steal anything. 



I 214 ] 



