xxxvi Obituary Notices of Fellows deceased, 



there can be no doubt that Eichthofen, too, early felt the fascination of the 

 problems presented by volcanic phenomena and ancient igneous rocks. He 

 began, however, with a somewhat more adventurous flight into that difficult 

 department of Nature than had been attempted by his two geological masters. 

 He chose as the subject of his thesis for the doctorate a group of igneous 

 rocks, on which he wrote a Latin essay, " De Melaphyro," and as soon as his 

 University time came to an end, he started off on his first extended scientific 

 investigation, for which he selected the region of Predazzo, St. Cassian, and the 

 Seisser Alp. His observations on that area were begun in the summer of 

 1856, and were continued in subsequent years, but their publication did not 

 take place until 1860, when they appeared in his remarkable monograph, 

 wherein he arranged the sequence of the formations in that complicated 

 region, discussed the igneous rocks and their successive epochs of eruption, 

 worked out the tectonic arrangement of the several rocks, and propounded 

 the view that the dolomite masses of the Tyrol represent ancient coral-reefs. 



During the next three years he had ample opportunities of extending his 

 knowledge and experience of field-work by journeys in the Northern Tyrol, 

 Vorarlberg, North-Eastern Upper Hungary and Transylvania. His published 

 papers of that period on the intrusive melaphyres of Moravia and on the 

 trachytes of Hungary show how keen was his early interest iu the tectonics 

 and petrography of the igneous rocks, and at what a youthful period of his 

 career he had thoughtfully considered the family relationships of these rocks, 

 and, in particular, the important and independent character of the rhyolites. 

 At Vienna he came into contact with the distinguished group of geologists 

 and mineralogists who at that time flourished in the Austrian capital. Among 

 these men he was more especially drawn to Franz Bitter von Hauer, after- 

 wards for so many years the Director and guiding spirit of the Austrian 

 Geological Survey. It seems to have been as a consequence of this cordial 

 friendship that Eichthofen was induced to become a volunteer on this Survey, 

 and to spend four of the pleasantest and most profitable years of his life in 

 hard systematic field-work among the Eastern Alps. 



But his passion for geographical exploration in a wider and less-trodden 

 field than an European mountain-range came at last to be gratified in a 

 wholly unexpected way, whereby the current of his life was at once and 

 permanently changed. In 1860 he had the good fortune to be chosen 

 scientific member, with the rank of Secretary of Legation, in a Prussian 

 Embassy, sent out to negotiate commercial arrangements with the native 

 States of Eastern Asia. During this expedition he had an opportunity 

 of spending some months in Japan, and of visiting Formosa, the Philippines, 

 Java, and Siam. He did not, however, return with his comrades to Europe, 

 but, fired with the desire of making extensive explorations into the heart of 

 the Asiatic continent, he remained behind in the expectation of being able 

 to carry out what had been a long-cherished dream. But, after some 

 journeys in India and Cashmere, difficulties arising from the disturbed 

 state of China arrested his further progress, so that at last, postponing 



