322 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 819 



erous gifts. Last, but not least, SheiSeld 

 has shown that it could not rest satisfied 

 till its citizens could ascend from their own 

 doors to the highest rung of the educa- 

 tional ladder. Firth College, named after 

 its generous founder, was born in the year 

 of our last visit; in 1897 it received a 

 charter as the University College of Shef- 

 field, and in the spring of 1905 was created 

 a university, shortly after which its fine 

 new buildings were opened by the late 

 king; and last year its library, the gener- 

 ous gift of Dr. Edgar Allen, was inaugu- 

 rated by his successor, when Prince of 

 "Wales. I must not now dwell on the great 

 work which awaits this and other new uni- 

 versities. It is for them to prove that, so 

 far from abstract thought being antagon- 

 istic to practical work, or scientific research 

 to the labor of the factory or foundry, the 

 one and the other can harmoniously co- 

 operate in the advance of knowledge and 

 the progress of civilization. 



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 sci- 

 ence. 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 Shef- 

 field, since it was the birthplace and the 

 lifelong home of Henry Clifton Sorby, who 

 may truly be called the father of that sci- 

 ence. 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.^ A rare combination of a 



^ His subsequent investigations into the micro- 

 scopic structure of steel and other alloys of iron, 

 in the 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 impor- 



singularly versatile and active intellect 

 with accurate thought and sound judg- 

 ment, shrewd in nature, as became a 

 Yorkshireman, yet gentle, kindly and un- 

 selfish, 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 metallurgy, coal-mining 

 and engineering, I venture to express hope 

 that some of your wealthier citizens will 

 provide for the temporary deficiency, and 

 thus worthily commemorate one so distin- 

 giiished. 



But to return. I have not selected pe- 

 trology as my subject, partlj^ 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 pres- 

 ent position it is enough to refer to the 

 suggestive and comprehensive volume pub- 

 lished last year by Mr. A. Harker ;* partly, 

 also, because the discussion of any branch 

 of petrology would involve so many tech- 

 nicalities that I fear it would be found 

 tedious by a large majority of my audience. 

 So I have preferred to discuss some ques- 

 tions 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 districts, it has 

 been possible for me to carry on the latter 

 without neglecting the former, and my 

 study of ice-work gradually led me from 

 the highlands into the lowlands.^ I pur- 



tant sidelights on more than one dark place in 

 petrology. 



* " The Natural Histoi-y of Igneous Rocks," 1909. 



"May I add that hereafter a statement of facts 

 without mention of an authority means that I am 

 speaking from personal knowledge? 



