XXXV 



FEEDINAND BAEON YON EICHTHOFEN, 1833—1905 



Among the active promoters of geology and geography during the last half 

 century, no one has filled a more distinguished place or has had a wider circle 

 of friends and admirers all over the world, than the illustrious Professor in 

 Berlin whose unexpected death on October 6 last sent a thrill of deep regret 

 through every civilised country. Up to the last he retained so much of his 

 youthful enthusiasm and power of work, that even those who knew him most 

 intimately and could watch him from day to day, saw little sign of old 

 age, and looked forward to a further continuance of his influence and assist- 

 ance in the scientific progress of future years. But his end came in the midst 

 of his labours. As he was working in his wonted place at his writing-table, 

 a sudden seizure deprived him of speech. It left him, however, so fully con- 

 scious that an early recovery was hoped for. But a little later another stroke 

 came while he was in a profound sleep, and after two days and a half he 

 passed peacefully away without illness or suffering of any kind. 



The family to which Baron von Eichthofen belonged is one of some position 

 in Silesia, where it owns extensive estates. Born at Carlsruhe in that country 

 on May 5, 1833, he received his early education at the Eoman Catholic 

 gymnasium of Breslau, under ecclesiastics of whom he used in later life to 

 speak with respect for their learning and their skill in imparting knowledge ; 

 yet he would refer regretfully to the monotonous restraints imposed by them 

 which, inasmuch as they curbed free and strenuous intercourse among boys, 

 had in his case, as he thought, induced a certain reserve and diffidence which 

 he had in vain endeavoured to overcome. He would sometimes contrast his 

 school experience with the very different training furnished by the public 

 schools of England. From school he went to the University of Breslau, and 

 then to that of Berlin, where he took his degree of Dr. Phil, in 1856. 



Before completing his University career, he had already shown his strong 

 bent towards the studies to which his future life was to be devoted. Well 

 grounded in all the main branches of the natural sciences, it was in geological 

 and geographical studies that he took specially absorbing interest. The writings 

 of Leopold von Buch and Alexander von Humboldt appear to have had a 

 decisive share in directing his course, and he spoke in later years with 

 grateful enthusiasm of his indebtedness to these two great masters. Von 

 Buch opened out for him the ample fields of geological research. The glowing 

 pages of Humboldt kindled in him that eagerness for geographical exploration 

 which carried him far and wide in the Old World and in the New. Perhaps 

 it may have been the influence of the example of these two heroes which drew 

 him at first into the study of ancient volcanic rocks ; for Humboldt had begun 

 his scientific career by writing a little treatise on the basalts of the Ehine, 

 while Von Buch, fresh from the influence of Werner, had found in Landeck 

 and in his early journeys into Italy proof of the aqueous origin which his 

 master had so long claimed for all the basalts of the globe. Be this as it may, 



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