Germany [Part II]

	In Germany. Counter-clockwise from lower left: Charles Palache, T. Jaggar, A. Osann, R. van Horn, K. v. Kraatz, D. Newland. Courtesy of Judith Palache Gregory.

Walter showed me about Milan and we lunched together. I recall that the food was very Italian (rice with saffron, for instance) and the local wine very strong. I have a very hazy notion of how I got to my train—probably Walter put me aboard. Anyway, I woke up rather bewildered at Genoa. There had been frost on the Riviera that winter and the palm trees looked bedraggled enough. A glimpse of Genoa and I was off again on the night train for Rome.

That was a night not to be forgotten to the end of my life. A tooth began to ache, and by midnight or later when I reached Rome I was almost frenzied with pain. I had the address of a German pension in Rome and managed to get a cab and reached it. All the rest of the night I writhed in pain. Baedecker told of an American dentist in Rome so thither I went as soon as I could hope to find him in his office. He was away! but his wife was locum tenens! She saw me and said the tooth must come out, but was too inflamed to touch then. She gave me a bottle of what must have been sour wine, some of which I was to hold in my mouth to reduce the inflammation. So I found my way with my bottle to the Coliseum, climbed to the highest terrace where I saw a sunny spot, and sat there all morning holding the vile mixture in my mouth as long as I could, spitting it out and doing it again, cursing the day I had ever started on my travels! Such was my introduction to the glories of Rome! The lady dentist took the tooth out later in the day and all was well again.

I cannot tell of my enjoyment of the Roman scenes and Museums. I knew so little of it all historically that much of it went quite over my head. Put I was fascinated—of that I am sure. After a few days I made up my mind to get away from the city. I went to Albano in the hills to the south and spent three days or so wandering about the Lakes Albano and Remi, through woods fragrant with wild poet's narcissus and gay with anenomes; out onto the Compagna and finally to Tivoli to see the famous terraces of tufa and Hadrian's villa.

So mixing art, archaeology and petrography I whiled away about two weeks in and near Rome. On my way to Florence I managed to spend one night in the hill town of Orvieto—a glimpse into the middle ages. In Florence I spent a rainy Easter and had a rainy journey to Venice where I arrived in the rain and was gondolaed to the hotel in a pouring rain. Fortunately the sun appeared the next day and I have a lively memory of the charm and beauty of Venice. Stopping for a day at Verona to see the well preserved Roman theatre, I reached Innsbruck on the way to the Brenner Pass. Here I discovered difficulties of two different sorts. I learned that all the mineral localities I wished to visit were deep in snow.  Even below Innsbruck the snowbanks near at hand were deep and a short walk took me to their edges where spring flowers were pushing up through the melting snow. I also discovered that I was out of cash.  Although less than twelve hours distant from Munich by rail, my ticket called for a journey lasting a day and two nights; and when I had paid for my hotel room I had just one dollar in my pocket. This I invested in chocolate bars and on this and on water I subsisted through what seemed the endless journey. To add to my difficulties when we reached Salzberg at the German frontier we had to change trains and pass the customs. I was traveling with a sort of telescopic suit case as my only baggage.  Into this I had packed all my rocks which made it a heavy load. Weak as I was I staggered down the long corridor of the station with my "handgepäck." I was stopped by an official who after a long confab made it clear that my baggage was too heavy for hand baggage and I must pay for its further transport. I then had the incredible task of convincing the official, with my still inadequate German, that I had no money. What was to be done? I finally found out that I could send it to Munich collect; so then I collapsed into the last "bummelzug" or way train of the journey rolling into Munich sometime after midnight. To say that I was glad to get to my room and in reach of more funds is to put the truth very mildly. In a few days I had closed up my affairs in Munich and, with Jaggar, betook me to Heidelberg. The Spring was in full beauty by this time and Heidelberg was delightful. Tom and I found a room at Kettengasse 9, a narrow alley not far from the University. Here I at once enrolled with Professor Rosenbusch who was at that time rapidly becoming the leader of the new science of petrography. He was a delightful lecturer and still more charming in the laboratory where there were only three or four of us doing advanced work.  He would come smoking a big cigar and chat with us about our work, over the microscope or if we were doing chemical work perhaps drop some ashes inadvertently into our beaker. Osann, who had come over from Munich when we did, was also giving lectures. Three Americans and one German constituted his class. Often after his late afternoon lecture we would adjourn with him for a cup of coffee or a glass of beer. We even proposed to him that he give his lectures at the Cafe but the German objected to that as too irregular. Discouraged by my difficulties in troth's laboratory with crystal measurement, I somewhat doubtfully enrolled for a course in that subject with Professor V. Goldschmidt who gave his work in a private laboratory near the Institute. Here I soon found a new point of view and a new method. He had invented a new measuring instrument for getting the angles of crystals with which he was experimenting. And he discussed his results graphically by a beautiful treatment which changed the dry mathematical methods of Groth to a fascinating almost automatic solution, I threw myself into this work with enthusiasm and almost forgot Rosenbusch and petrography.

There were many distractions in Heidelberg which took time from my work. The chestnuts came into bloom on the mountainside and filled the whole air with an intoxicating odor. Afternoons and evenings there were concerts in the little city park or up at the old castle and it was all too easy to drop work and go to sit with a glass of beer to hear the music. Walks on the mountain trails near at hand and geological excursions of a Sunday in the Black Forest to see some rocks and lunch at some outlook point were very enticing. Jaggar and I wasted a good deal of time in our room very pleasantly with company, wrestling matches and endless talk.  The semester came to an end all too soon but I had found in Goldschmidt's work my real goal which I have followed ever since. I was I think his first American student and became the leading proponent of his methods; I have had perhaps as many students in the subject as he has ever had himself.

Jaggar and I had packed our various belongings and were about to start for Paris and England together, hut just before we were off there came to Heidelberg my old Oakland friend Nina Pringle traveling with an Aunt.. I changed my route to go down the Rhine with them to Cologne.  That was a delightful and memorable day. I had not seen anyone from home for months; Nina was an old flame too and we had plenty to talk about; there was the charming panorama of the river and its castles, new to both of us; and a day of glorious sunshine. After seeing the great cathedral at Cologne with my companion and lunching in its shadow I took the Paris train. There I rejoined Jaggar who had been visiting some of the French laboratories of petrography. Then I went to Versailles and stayed with Aunt Sarah and to Compeigne to spend a night with cousin Norah d'humiers. Aymeric took me to see the government horse stud of which he was in charge and for a morning ride in the great forest surrounding it.  Aunt Eliza was visiting Aunt Sarah and it was arranged that I was to see her across the Channel and to visit her later at Teighnmouth. I returned for a few days in Paris, sightseeing with Jaggar; again I found myself broke—money was in England but I could not get it forwarded, I actually had to borrow from my new-found Aunt enough to get to London. I remember very little of my English relatives at Teighnmouth save that they made a great fuss over me, and I spent several days there very pleasantly. In London two events stand out in my memory. I went to call on Professor Teall, leading English petrologist.  Instead of talking shop he took me to a suburban golf course at Dulwich and I wandered over the links watching the playing of the unknown sport for the first time. An International Geographical Congress was meeting in London and I heard some of the papers and went to a garden fete given in its honor by the Baroness Burdette-Coots in her magnificent estate at Highgate. I also attended an evening reception at the London house of Lord Curzon and remember marveling at the superb manner in which has beautiful wife, a famous American beauty and daughter of the Cincinnati packing magnate Leiter, did the honors of the house..

We sailed from Southampton in the liner Fürst Bismarck. I remember little of the crossing save that Jaggar proves a poor sailor and that we met a jolly party of American girls some of whom I met again in Dalton in the Berkshires. We landed in New York in the midst of an appalling heat wave. We were "broke" again and after paying customs fees had not a cent left. I left Jaggar on the dock at Hoboken as hostage to the man who had opened our cases for inspection and whom we could not pay. Indeed I borrowed a dime from him to get across on the Ferry to New York where I secured funds from Father's agent, Mr. Michaels.  Returning to Hoboken I set Jaggar free and he at once took himself off by train to Boston and Nova Scotia.  I recall being quite unable to sleep that night at the old Grand Central Hotel and spending the night along with thousands of others on the grass of Central Park. Next day I took train for Pittsfield Mass. to attend the meetings and excursions of the Geological Society of America, held in Springfield. This was my first opportunity to meet men of my chosen sciences in the East and both the excursions under Professor Emerson of Amherst across the Berkshires and the meetings were delightful. Professor Woodworth of Harvard  invited me to visit him at Cambridge after the meeting which I did. My journey thither however was not without its difficulties. I took what I thought was a five o'clock train for Boston on a Saturday afternoon and should have reached there by 8 P.M.  I boarded the train in the midst of a thunder storm and downpour of rain and found out only after we were well on our way that I was on a New York-bound train.  I got off at Hartford, meaning to spend the night there; but I found out that that due to an ancient blue-law, no train might move en Sunday in Connecticut save those coming from other states, nothing for it but to wait for the mid-night from New York, due about 3 A.M. This I took but awoke in the morning to find that the engine had broken down and that we were on a siding at Warren, half way between Springfield and Worcester. A new engine was finally secured and we hauled into Boston about noon, 17 hours to go less than 133 miles. Well all these things helped me to get some acquaintance with New England. I saw Harvard, still in vacation time of course; I visited Guy Wilkinson in Chestnut Rill and accompanied his wife on a round of golf in the course of which I obtained a frightful black eye, the result of trying friskily to jump a pair of bars. This ornament I carried with me to New York and to Cousin Edmond's office. He took it gayly, invited me to the Century Club, introducing me to friends as his young "bruiser cousin" from California; and then took me next day down the harbor to see one of the famous America Cup yacht races.

I returned to California in September by way of the Canadian Pacific R.R., hoping to see the famous scenery of that route. In this I was grievously cheated. The train lay for twelve hours in Winnepeg waiting for a delayed connecting train with one passenger for the steamer at Vancouver. Not a minute of this time was made up so we passed thru the scenic parts of the mountains at night; and I missed my connection south, losing another whole day. I felt that to be almost a personal affront on the part of the Railroad which I have never forgiven.

Home again with many new interests, friendships, desires. But what to do? There was no opening at the U.C. where Ransome had stepped in my shoes. H. L. Fairbanks, an unattached geologist of Berkeley, wanted a companion to make a trip in search of fossils in the Franciscan series of rocks south of Monterey and I accepted. He was coming up coast by steamer from Los Angeles and I was to meet him at San Simeon where he had some donkeys. I took the coaster from San Francisco and was put ashore at midnight in a light boat, running the surf, to find but a single house which proved to be both bar and hotel. It was mainly the first with a noisy dance going on and much drinking. I finally got a place in a sort of attic to spread my blankets on the floor and woke after a few hours of uneasy sleep to find it raining. As I might have to wait several days till Fairbanks arrived the prospect was dismal enough. As I was wandering about looking at the rocks I saw a man come down the road on horseback who looked at me rather pleasantly and passed the time of day. He had some business at the wharf and then addresses me, asking me what I was doing there. When I told him he said at once “this is no place to stay, come up to the ranch house. The wagon will be down presently and you put your things in it and come on up.” Of course I protested but he would take no denial and at last I said all right. He rode away when the wagon was loaded and after a short trip we came upon a large ranch house. Any friend was there and taking me t the door of the house he called to his wife and said to her “Here is a stranger who was staying down at the hotel. I have asked him to stay with us I don’t know his name.” I gave my name and the lady nearly fell on my neck. “Are you by any chance a relative of Whitney Palache who married Belle Garber?” Of course I said yes and she fairly shouted. It appeared that she had been a neighbor of the Garbers when they lived in Carson City, Nevada years before and Mrs. Garber had nursed her through a severe illness. I was certainly made most welcome. It proved that they were Captain and Mrs. Taylor and he was in charge of the Hearst cattle ranch covering the whole country round about. I was there four days, the only guest, lived on grand southern cooking, rode out with a young cousin from Alabama, a Thornton, who was sending fences; and generally had a delightful time. I learned that Taylor had been the youngest aide of General Lee during the Civil War and still lived in the memories of his country's wrongs, his sword and pistols hung on his study wall.

“I was a stranger and ye took me in.” Surely never was the saying better exemplified nor has it ever happened to me again. This spot on the coast is the same now occupied by Hearst's fabulous castle, for some idea of which read A. Edward Newton's article about it in the Atlantic Monthly for 1953. Then it was a big plain square ranch house in an endless cattle range.

Fairbanks arrived duly, caught up his two Jacks in Taylor's pasture and we loaded up our outfit and set out on foot inland. At that time the coast road ended at the Big Sur. Our destination was Slate's Springs and to reach it we had to cross the Coast Range, go north inland and then back over the Range again to the coast. We reached the valley of the Naceimiento River, followed it up to the San Antonio and up the latter, past the ruined Mission and on to the headwaters. I had never before seen such a magnificent display of great Valley Oaks as were scattered park-like over these valleys. We came out to the knife-sharp crest of the Range just as the sun was dropping into the Pacific. Our elevation must have been over 2000 feet and below us was a wooded canyon into which we were to plunge.. The vast expanse of the ocean before us made a scene of no common grandeur.

At Slate's Springs we spent some days in an almost fruitless search for fossils. It made me think of the day-upon-day search I had made at Point ban Pedro three years before, breaking open the slate rocks of the same Franciscan formation with even less result. And I was to do the same on a third occasion in Alaska during the Harriman Expedition in 1899.

Then we took up our leisurely foot-pace northward on the Coast Trail. This kept at about 1000 feet elevation except where it dipped sharply down to cross a redwood-filled canyon. Lonely and grand was this empty land. Now and then a horseman passed us going about his business but neither houses nor cattle were to be seen Often of a morning the fog lay above the ocean almost to the trail level as though a mighty tide had raised the water over night. When it was clear the slope sank straight away to the water and we looked down upon the vast swell of the Pacific heaving the kelp fields, heard remotely the roar of the breakers on the beach or cliff below or followed the path of a precession of pelicans winging their way in swaying line from one fishing ground to another. I suppose we were a week getting to Monterey where our trip ended. The weather was idyllic, November and no early rains fell.

In December a letter came to me from J. E. Wolff offering me a small job at Harvard. Jaggar had suggested my name and Davis had approved. I was to rearrange the mineral collection in the Museum. I lost no time in accepting and about the middle of December, 1895 I boarded the Southern Pacific train via Los Angeles and New Orleans for Boston.