4 president's address. 



opened by the late King ; and last year its Library, the generous gift of 

 Dr. Edgar Allen, was inaugurated by his successor, when Prince of 

 Wales. I must not now dwell on the great work which awaits this and 

 other new universities. It) is for them to prove that, so far from abstract 

 thought being antagonistic to practical work, or scientific research to the 

 labour of the factory or foundry, the one and the other can harmoniously 

 co-operate in the advance of knowledge and the progress of civilisation. 



You often permit your President on these occasions to speak of a 

 subject in which he takes a special interest, and I prefer thus trespassing 

 on your kindness to attempting a general review of recent progress in 

 science. I do not however propose, as you might naturally expect, 

 to discuss some branch of petrology ; though for this no place could be 

 more appropriate than Sheffield, since it was the birthplace and the 

 lifelong home of Henry Clifton Sorby, who may truly be called the father 

 of that science. This title he won when, a little more than sixty years 

 ago, he began to study the structure and mineral composition of rocks 

 by examining thin sections of them under the microscope. 1 A rare com- 

 bination of a singularly versatile and active intellect with accurate 

 thought and sound judgment, shrewd in nature, as became a Yorkshire- 

 man, yet gentle, kindly, and unselfish, he was one whom his friends 

 loved and of whom this city may well be proud. Sorby 's name will be 

 kept alive among you by the Professorship of Geology which he has 

 endowed in your University; but, as the funds will not be available for 

 some time, and as that science is so intimately connected with metal- 

 lurgy, coal-mining, and engineering, I venture to express a hope that 

 some of your wealthier citizens will provide for the temporary deficiency, 

 and thus worthily commemorate one so distinguished. 



But to return. I have not selected petrology as my subject, partly 

 because I think that the great attention which its more minute details 

 have of late received has tended to limit rather than to broaden our 

 views, while for a survey of our present position it is enough to refer to 

 the suggestive and comprehensive volume published last year by Mr. A. 

 Harker; 2 partly, also, because the discussion of any branch of petrology 

 would involve so many technicalities that I fear it would be found 

 tedious by a large majority of my audience. So I have preferred to 

 discuss some questions relating to the effects of ice which had engaged 

 my attention a dozen years before I attempted the study of rock slices. 

 As much of my petrological work has been connected with mountain 



1 His subsequent investigations into the microscopic structure of steel and other 

 alloys of iron, in tho manufacture of which your city holds a foremost place, have 

 been extended by Mr. J. E. Stead and others, and they, besides being of great value 

 to industrial progress, have thrown important sidelights on more than one dark 

 place in petrology. 



2 The Natural History of Igneous Rocks (1909)/ 



