November 2, 1905J 



NA TURE 



essay on the Dolomite region, which was a remark- 

 able production for so young a man. 



In the midst of his Alpine work he was offered a 

 post as geologist on a Prussian expedition to Japan, 

 China, Siam, and the adjacent regions. The oppor- 

 tunity of foreign travel and exploration was too tempt- 

 ing to be resisted. Quitting his Austrian labours he 

 sailed for the East, and during the next two or three 

 years, from i860 onwards, contributed to the scientific 

 journals various papers descriptive of some of the 

 tracts which he visited. Owing to circumstances 

 which prevented him at the time from undertaking 

 exploration in the heart of Asia, he crossed the Pacific 

 and spent several years in western North America, 

 where he speciallv devoted himself to a detailed study 

 of the igneous rocks of that marvellously volcanic 

 region. It was there that he prepared his now classic 

 memoir on the " Principles of the Natural System 

 of Volcanic Rocks," which was published in English 

 among the memoirs of the California Academy of 

 Sciences. This sojourn in America enabled him, 

 moreover, to obtain a mastery of the English 

 language, such as few foreign men of science could 

 equal. 



The opportunity of returning to Asia came at last 

 in the autumn of the year 186S, and he eagerly 

 availed himself of it. He spent some years in 

 travelling over most of the provinces of the vast 

 empire of China, studying their physical features and 

 geological structure, and forming an extensive 

 collection of their rocks and fossils. So voluminous 

 were the data which he gathered together that they 

 filled a series of massive volumes, of which the first 

 appeared in 1S77, and the Atlas in 18S5. This work 

 placed him in the front rank of scientific pioneers. 

 It not merely made known for the first time the 

 physical geography and geology of a vast territory, 

 but presented contributions of great value towards the 

 elucidation of disputed problems in science. 



Richthofen's reputation as a travelled and accom- 

 plished geographer had now spread so widely that in 

 the vear 1875 he was offered, and accepted, the chair 

 of geography in the University of Bonn, where he 

 spent eight happv and fruitful years, and where he 

 married the accomplished lady to whom he had been 

 long attached. From Bonn he was called to occupy 

 a similar position at Leipzig, whence, after only three 

 years, he was invited to become professor of geo- 

 graphy in the University of Berlin. In the metropolis 

 of the German Empire he found ample scope for his 

 rare faculties of exposition and organisation. Besides 

 the ordinary duties of his professorship, he instituted 

 meetings of various kinds for promoting the cultiva- 

 tion of geographical and geological studies, and 

 amassed a wonderful collection of books, maps, instru- 

 ments, models, and other illustrations of the physical 

 features of the earth's surface. His enthusiasm in 

 these efforts was rewarded three years ago bv his 

 appointment as director of the new geographical 

 institute in Berlin, where he had ample space to 

 arrange and display the remarkable mass of material 

 which he had gathered together with the view of 

 bringing home to the mind and eye the characteristic 

 aspects of land and sea and the history of exploration 

 and discovery in oceanographv. 



Baron von Richthofen was a geographer of the 

 highest tvpe. To him the mere addition of so many 

 hundred square miles of territory to what was already 

 known of the earth's surface, and the opportunity of 

 affixing the names of friends and benefactors to peaks 

 and promontories and inlets, were matters of com- 

 paratively little moment. It was the grand features 

 of land and sea that interested him. their origin, their 

 history, their relations to each other, their influence 



NO. 1879, VOL. 73J 



on the progress and destiny of mankind. His early 

 geological training eminently fitted him for investi- 

 gating these problems on the ground, and kept him 

 from making the mistakes which attention restricted 

 to mere superficial features has so often produced. He 

 possessed in rare measure the qualities which ensure 

 the success of an explorer — health and strength, alike 

 of body and mind, a wide range of natural know;- 

 ledge, courage, patience, endurance, tact, and kindli- 

 ness. It may have been the consciousness of the 

 possession of these qualities, combined with a recollec- 

 tion of the pleasure which their exercise had given 

 him in his varied wanderings in Europe, Asia, and 

 America, that led him to write, in the midst of his 

 university and other work, his admirable " Fuhrer fur 

 Forschungsreisende, " which was published in 1886. 

 No one but a born and trained explorer, who had 

 enjoyed ample experience by flood and fell, all over 

 the globe, could have given to the world such a 

 volume, so full of the ripest practical knowledge, so 

 broad in its conception of what exploration should 

 be, and so clear and emphatic in its statement of the 

 accomplishments which are needed for the making of 

 a successful traveller. Every department of observ- 

 ation is luminously presented in his chapters, _ which 

 may be regarded as a contribution of the first import- 

 ance to physical geography and geology. The 

 volume is one which ought to be put into the hands 

 of everv man who proposes to undertake the examin- 

 ation of new or little known regions, and who is 

 willing to learn beforehand what is expected of him 

 bv those most competent to judge. 



With Berlin as his headquarters, and a home there 

 which attracted men from all lands, the Baron and 

 his gracious and devoted wife formed the centre of a 

 large circle of friends; but he journeyed far to attend 

 meetings and congresses, where his handsome 

 presence and genial talk were always welcomed. 

 Hence not many men of science of his day were more 

 widely known personally than he. He received end- 

 less marks of appreciation from learned societies and 

 academies, both in the Old and in the New World. 

 Our own Royal Society honoured itself by including 

 him in its list of foreign members. His death has 

 left a blank in scientific society which no living man 

 is competent to fill. For many a year he will be 

 regretted by all who even only slightly knew him, and 

 mourned by those who were privileged to enjoy his 

 friendship. A. G. 



THE TREASURY AND MEN OF SCIENCE. 



THE subjoined letter from the Earl of Crawford 

 appeared in Monday's Times. The parsimony 

 of the Government in everything relating to the scien- 

 tific work needed for the State service is well known; 

 what is not yet known generally is how much the 

 administration is weakened by the entire absence of 

 science, and therefore of the scientific spirit, in the 

 higher ranks of the Civil Service, and especially of 

 the Treasury. The official action described by Lord 

 Crawford is another indication of the inability of the 

 official mind to understand that science has any place 

 in the nation's activities. 



To the Editor of the " Times." 

 Sir, — The death, noted by you to-day, of my dear 



friend and colleague Dr. Copeland, His Majesty's 



Astronomer for Scotland, creates a vacancy in the 



scientific staff of Great Britain. 



Will you permit me, Sir, to offer a word of warning 



to anv who may be asked to succeed him ? 



Students or masters of astronomy are not, in the 



