INo. 3.] MISCELLANEOUS. 189 



' G. Rose was the first in Germany to use the reflecting gonio- 

 aneter in accurate measurements of the angles of crystals. He 

 took an active part in the researches which led Mitscherlich to 

 the important discovery of isomorphism. His work covered all 

 <iepartments of mineralo>;y, the form and combinations of crystals, 

 physics in its applications to crystallized substances, the chemical 

 constitution of minerals, and their artificial formation. He was the 

 great master in the art of crystallographic drawing. The science 

 of the association of minerals in rocks, petrography, originated . 

 with him. He was also the first to teach us the method of study- 

 ing rocks by means of thin microscopic sections mounted on glass 

 ..-slides, in which minerals invisible to the unaided eye are dis- 

 closed. 



With a special predilection he devoted himself to the study of 

 meteorites, those wonderful bodies which reach the earth from 

 the depths of space. With his keen penetration he discovered 

 the structure of the iron meteorites and the mineral components 

 -of stony meteorites, and studied out the striking differences be- 

 tween rock-making in a cosmic atom, and in the solid crust of 

 the earth. 



It is worthy of remark that his best mineralogical discoveries 

 were made not always on rare bodies, but often on those which 

 had been long familiar and were common in collections. An ex- 

 ample of this is his recognition of right and left-handed quartz 

 crystals by their exterior forms; the complex twin crystals of the 

 same species, etc. The secret of his success was that he did not 

 observe simply form, but all the physical characters of the spe- 

 cies ; when searching into nature's work, his mind grasped what- 

 ever in the wide range of facts could serve as a key to the solu- 

 tion of the difficult problem before him. During his later years 

 his researches were devoted to the "king of stones," the diamond. 

 Few mineralogists would have thought that the diamond yet 

 offered unsolved problems. In his anxiety that his work should 

 not be lost to science, only twenty-four hours before his death he 

 •dictated to his son the results of his latest researches. Perhaps 

 the final solution of the problem of the crystallization of the dia- 

 mond was not attained by him ; but he was near reaching his aim. 

 His life, in thought and action, reflected Bacon's maxim " Per- 

 transibunt multi, sed augebitur scientia." He was a true student 

 ■of nature, an eminent and effective worker for the progress of 

 ■ science and the exposition of the system of nature. 



