Ferdinand Baron von Richthofen. xxxvii 



his quest for some more favourable occasion, he crossed the ocean to 

 California, with the view of studying the metalliferous and volcanic 

 regions of the western border of North America. The full development of 

 petrographical types of eruptive rocks in that remarkable territory soon 

 kindled anew his enthusiasm for this department of geology, and furnished 

 him with rich material for study. As the fruit of this research there 

 appeared, in 1868, his now classic paper on the " Principles of the Natural 

 System of Volcanic Kocks," which was published in English, in the first 

 volume of the ' Memoirs ' of the California Academy of Sciences. In this 

 essay the relations, classification and order of sequence of the rhyolites, 

 trachytes, propylites, andesites, and basalts were clearly expounded. A 

 philosophical discussion was likewise given of the relations of modern to 

 ancient eruptive rocks, of the origin of volcanic rocks, and of the connection 

 between the distribution of these rocks and the configuration of the surface 

 of the globe. One notable result of this residence in Western America was 

 to enable the geologist to obtain such a mastery of the English language as 

 is not often reached by a foreign man of science. 



The design of Asiatic exploration, though necessarily postponed for a time, 

 had never been laid aside. Eichthofen discussed the subject with some of 

 the American geologists, especially with J. D. Whitney, then in the height 

 of his activity and usefulness as a geological pioneer in the Ear West. At 

 last the bold scheme was planned of making a prolonged geological survey of 

 the interior of China. On August 3, 1868, Richthofen left San Francisco 

 and recrossed the Pacific. He then began the series of journeys which, 

 during a period of four years, extended over most of the provinces of the 

 Celestial Empire. He made voluminous notes on the physical geography and 

 geology of that vast region, and on the distribution and condition of its 

 teeming human population. At the same time he formed an extensive 

 collection of the minerals, rocks, and fossils of the various districts in which 

 he sojourned. He was the first to reveal to the outer world the wide extent 

 of workable coal in China. The commercial importance of his observations 

 came to the notice of the European merchants in the East, and with the 

 view of inducing him to continue and complete them, the expenses of his 

 later journeys were partly defrayed by a contribution from the Shanghai 

 General Chamber of Commerce, to which, in 1870, he forwarded a series 

 of Reports on the economic and commercial aspects of the regions through 

 which he had travelled. But the large amount of scientific material which 

 he had amassed demanded years of patient elaboration. 



He returned to Europe at the end of 1872, after twelve years of travel, 

 and, settling in Berlin, set to work on the preparation of his monumental 

 work upon China. The first volume did not appear until 1877 ; the 

 second was published in 1882, the fourth in 1883, and the 'Atlas' in 

 1885. The third volume has never been issued, but it is to be hoped 

 that the large bulk of material collected by the author for its completion 

 may yet be given to the world. Instead of confining himself to the 



