_The Growth of a Crystal_ BEING THE EIGHTEENTH ROBERT BOYLE LECTURE DELIVERED BEFORE _THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY JUNIOR SCIENTIFIC CLUB_ _On the 20th of May, 1911_ BY HENRY A. MIERS, M.A., D.SC. (OXON.), F.R.S. PRINCIPAL OF LONDON UNIVERSITY LONDON: HENRY FROWDE, AMEN CORNER, E.C. EDINBURGH: 12 FREDERICK STREET. GLASGOW: 104 WEST GEORGE STREET OXFORD: 116 HIGH STREET NEW YORK: 29-35 WEST 32ND STREET TORONTO: 25-27 RICHMOND STREET WEST MELBOURNE: CATHEDRAL BUILDINGS, 205 FLINDERS LANE 1911 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ OXFORD: HORACE HART PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE GROWTH OF A CRYSTAL When this date was fixed by your Secretary for the delivery of the BOYLE Lecture, I discovered that it happened to be the fifteenth anniversary of the very day on which I was first called upon to address a general audience in Oxford. On May 20, 1896, I delivered an inaugural lecture as Waynflete Professor of Mineralogy; when I look back upon the happy years spent here in teaching and studying a science which is dear to me, I feel that the present lecture should be an opportunity for expressing gratitude for those peaceful years, not unmingled with regret that they led to no such worthy achievement on my part as might have brought great credit to the University and so have repaid something of the debt which I owe to her. Looking back from the busier world of London, it is easy to see how ideal are the conditions under which an Oxford Professor conducts his work; especially if his subject be one which does not overwhelm him with students who pursue it only for the purpose of passing an examination. Those who are attracted to his Laboratory probably come because they have some natural taste for the subject; he finds it a pleasure to devote his time to them; while his vacations and the conditions of Oxford life give him unique opportunities for his own researches. It is true that those who have most leisure not infrequently waste most time. It is true also that the custom of Oxford is to burden her students and scholars in addition to their teaching, with the conduct of affairs which could be managed as well by persons specially appointed for the purpose. Still it is also certain that to those who enter into the genius of the place, and are animated by the spirit of Learning, Oxford is prodigal of opportunity, and enables them to live the Academic Life in a way which is scarcely possible elsewhere.