1860 77V THE EIFEL 265 



plain, so to speak, with valleys scooped out of it long 

 before the lava began to flow. 



' We leave this soon, but, before doing so finally, 

 will pay a visit to Treves, to see the northern capital 

 of the Emperor Constantine.' 



Though these months on the Continent were 

 spent as far as possible in idleness, Ramsay could 

 hardly find himself face to face with new scenes 

 without being led to notice and reflect on the 

 features in them which bore on any of the ques- 

 tions in geology and physical geography which had 

 always been with him such favourite subjects. His 

 excursions among the Eifel cones and craters 

 gave him fresh material for his work among the 

 old volcanoes of Wales, and for his lectures at 

 the School of Mines. His rambles over the great 

 tableland of that region, and among the streams 

 which have so deeply trenched it, furnished him 

 with illustrations of river-action of which, though 

 he perhaps hardly realised at that time their 

 significance, he was in a few years to make excel- 

 lent use. 



The sojourn in Germany, and the idleness enjoined 

 upon him, had one effect, which was the first to strike 

 the eyes of his friends when he got back to England. 

 He had buried his razors when he left home, and 

 returned with a bushy beard, which he continued to 

 wear during the rest of his life. But though much 

 better in general health than when he went abroad 

 in spring, he was still far from having regained his 

 old vigour and power of work. Indeed, it is doubtful 

 if he ever again was capable of enduring the same 

 mental and physical strain as he had been before his 

 illness. He had again to be assisted in his lectures 



