July 2, 1896] 



NA TURE 



20Q 



liy teaching precisely those features ul uiiy science which can noi 

 well be learnt in later life, and yet are the very foundation of 

 practical knowledge ; to the engineer his abstract mathematics 

 and physics, to the medical man his ]ihysiology and comparative 

 anatomy. Nothing can better ilhistrate the enormous value to 

 the manufacturer, for example, of a sound training in pure 

 science than the manner in which Cicrniany has taken the lead 

 in certain chemical industries owing lo the excellent scientific 

 instruction received at the universities by the men employed in 

 those industries. Or, to take another instance, it has been 

 confessed by the electrical engineers that the marvellous rapidity 

 with which their industry has grown is largely due to the fact 

 that the mathematical theory had been nuainly elaborated before 

 electrical science found its application ; there can be no 

 di.ubt that years of blundering were saved by this fact, for the 

 form and structure of the mechanism required could be almost 

 from the first worked out by well-eslablished principles instead 

 of blind trials. 



In the same way I believe that the study of scientific 

 mineralogy has a very considerable value, both educational and 

 practical. 



Kor the successful pursuit of this science a student must 

 combine no inconsiderable knowledge of chemistry, physics and 

 crystallography, and must therefore be lo some extent familiar 

 with certain branches of mathematics ; if he is further to study 

 the interesting problems of the origin, growth and changes of 

 minerals, he must also be acquainted with the kindred science 

 of geology. There is no fear lest a student of mineralogy 

 should too early become a specialist ; as a branch of natural 

 hi^tory his science encourages habits of minute observation, as 

 an experimental science it involves accurate physical and 

 chemical work. I am speaking, it will be understood, of 

 scientific mineralog)', the study of the nature and properties of 

 minerals in themselves quite independently of their uses and 

 applications ; one w ho is a master of these matters will not be 

 slow to find the applications. 



My predecessor in this chair always set before himself this 

 high ideal, and during a period of forty years endeavoured to 

 kindle among those who attended his lectures an interest in the 

 more purely scientific aspects of mineralogy. As one of his 

 pupils who, having conceived some degree of enthusiasm for 

 the subject, was greatly encouraged by his inspiration, I am 

 glad to have this opportunity of acknowledging my gratitude to 

 I'rof. Story-Maskelyne for directing the thoughts of his students 

 in the ways of pure science : I believe it to be the proper course 

 lo pursue in (he higher tciching at a tmiversity. 



In this connection I should have been glad to devote the 

 present address to the elucidation of a certain feature in 

 mineralogy which has an educational interest ; the fact, namely, 

 that the order in which a subject can best be unfolded before a 

 student's mind is very satisfactorily marked out by the historical 

 development of the subject ; that a profitable course of teaching 

 is suggested by the history of a science ; and that the order in 

 which problems have presented themselves to successive genera- 

 lions is the order in which they may be most naturally presented 

 to the individual. 



It is a principle which comes out very forcibly in the case of 

 mineralogy, and it may, for aught I know, be equally character- 

 istic of other sciences. 



Kirst would come the examination of stones by all .sorts of 

 simple means ; the study of the external characters by which they 

 may be recognised ; their colour and lustre ; their hardness and 

 weightiness ; the methods of recognition employed by the 

 miner ; the system of study, in fact, which prevailed in the 

 early part of the century, when the genius of Werner drew 

 stuflenls from all parts of Europe to the .Mining Academy of 

 Freiberg ; a system known as the natural history method. 

 This is an exercise admirably adapted lo train the faculty of 

 inquisitive and careful observation in the schoolboy, and in my 

 opinion should be unnecessary in the higher teaching of the 

 science, although it does in an incimgruous manner survive 

 therein throughout the (Jerman and other universities. 



Next, by a transition through the simpler chemical tests, the 

 learner is led to the refined chemical analysis of minerals ; a 

 study to which far too little attention is paid at the present day, 

 yet one from which the most fruitful results are lo be expected. 



Finally, as an inquiry suitable for the most advanced students, 

 follows the investigation by exact methods of the internal struc- 

 ture and constitution of minerals ; leading lo such researches as 

 are now being prosecuted in Oxford with remarkable success by 

 Mr. Tutton. 



NO. 1392, VOL. 54] 



Nothing can be more suggestive, from the educational point of 

 view, than the curious history of mineralogy. An excellent 

 account of the early phases is given in the " History and the 

 Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences" of Whewell, who was, it 

 will be remembered, I'rofessor of Mineralogy at Cambridge 

 before he became Professor of Moral Thilosophy. But to 

 dilate on these matters would be to do what I have already 

 undertaken to avoid, to celebrate the educational virtues of my 

 own science. 



In choosing a subject to which I could more particularly 

 devote an inaugural lecture, I have thought that one which is 

 both interesting and suggestive, even from the .scientific point of 

 view, is to be found in the beauty of minerals. No one can 

 glance through a collection of minerals, such as that which 

 adorns this museum, without being impressed by their varied 

 beauty of form and of colour ; no one can read what has been 

 written on the subject by Ruskin, without feeling that in their 

 ;\.sthetic aspect they possess a singular fascination. We are 

 perhaps more familiar with them when they have Iiecn wrought 

 into beautiful objects by the art of man ; the beauty of marble 

 and serpentine, of malachite and lapis lazuli, .among decoraiive 

 stones ; that ot sappliire and eiiierald and opal, among jewels ; or 

 of onyx and agate, among the less precious gem stones, is known 

 to all. Vet their beauty is mainly that of the minerals theiii- 

 .selves, and the hand of the artist does little more than make it 

 visible. Few perhaps, save those who have had persona! 

 experience among minerals, are aware of their intrinsic beau'.y : 

 let any visitor to a museum spend one half-hour among the 

 mineral cabinets, and he will find his reward in the purely 

 ;eslhetic plea.sure to be derived from the contemplation of 

 objects unrivalled in beauty of form and colour. The magnificent 

 collection preserved in the British Museum is, of course, iVial 

 from w hich the greatest plea.sure can be derived ; and in that col- 

 lection there are no more interesting objects than the fine agates 

 and chalcedonies brought together by Mr. Ruskin with the special 

 purpose of illustrating their beauty of colour and structure. 

 But even in a comparatively small collection like that of our 

 university, there is much that will attract and gratify the eye. 



Confronted by this wealth of beauty and interest, the refleclive 

 mind is led to propose to itself the question. What is the origin, 

 and what is the object of all this beauty ? what purpose does it 

 serve in the economy of nature ? In the beauty of the organic 

 world it is possible to imagine both an origin and a purpose. 

 The origin may conceivably be .sought in utility. Even if it be 

 denied that in the organic kingdom beautiful objects, whether 

 plants, animals, or human beings, have become usehil because 

 they are Iieautiful, it may, at any rate, be suggested that they 

 appear beautiful because they are useful. But in the mineral 

 world it is altogether different ; these wonderful spars and gems, 

 with their infinite variety of form and colour, their intricate 

 grou|jings of silky fibres and pearly flakes, may have been for 

 ages hidden in dark recesses of the earth where they have led 

 an unchanging existence ; and when they are brought to the 

 light of day for the use of mankind, we can admire their beauty, 

 but we cannot see any purpose for which, or any process by 

 which it has been acquiied. It may be answered that herein 

 is no cause for surprise ; that there is no reason why inanimate 

 objects should not be both beautiful and interesting in- them- 

 selves apart from any teleological aspect ; that, indeed, it i-. 

 gratifying to find a branch of natural science into which 

 utilitarian considerations do not enter. This may be so, but 

 nevertheless the fact indicates a very remarkable distinction 

 between minerals and other natural oI)jects. 



Let us pursue to its conclusion the inquiry which we have 

 provoked, and see whither it leads us. 



In the first place, I would point out that the distinction 

 relates not only to the beauty, but to all the properties ol 

 minerals ; we may equally incjuire about them : What is theii 

 origin and what is their object .' What purpose do they serve 

 in the economy of nature? They have not been acquired by 

 selection, they do not impart any advantage to the mineral it.sell. 



The contrast between minerals on the one side, and animals 

 and plants on the olher, is very obvious. There is with the 

 former no change or development, neither progress nor de- 

 generation ; no survival of the fittest, no variation of characters. 

 They are perfect and complete, each in itself, immutable and 

 immortal. No struggle for existence takes place in the mineral 

 world as it does among the individuals of the animal and 

 vegetable kingdoms. 



It may be .answered that this is natural, for such individual-, 

 do not exist in the mineral kingdom. In other olijects which 



