36  PKOCEEMXGS  OF  THE  GEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY.  [May  1 893. 
But  one  name  I  must  supply,  of  a  man  who  more  than  thirty 
years  ago  came  ro  London  for  a  visit,  and  remained  to  work  in  the 
Museum  for  some  time.  I  allude  to  Viktor  von  Lang,  the  partner 
of  Joseph  Graiiich  in  the  splendid  work  done  by  the  Vienna  school  of 
crystallography  and  physics,  and  who  had  already  then  a  European 
name.  That  period  of  my  life,  in  the  continual  companionship  of 
so  finely  trained  a  physicist  and  crystallographer.  was  like  a  second 
education. 
Then,  Sir,  you  have  alluded  to  the  little  school,  if  I  may  call  it 
so,  of  Crystallography  connected  with  my  Chair  at  Oxford,  and  to 
the  results  of  my  teaching.  The  deduction  of  the  laws  of  morpho¬ 
logical  and  physical  symmetry  in  crystals  from  the  fundamental  law 
of  rational  indices  lay  as  a  germ,  though  entirely  undeveloped,  in 
the  Treatise  and  tracts  of  my  late  friend  and  master  in  the  study  of 
the  science,  Prof.  Miller,  of  Cambridge.  Modem  Crystallography 
has  grown  from  that  germ,  and  if  I  have  helped  in  promulgating  it 
in  England  through  my  lectures,  I  own  more  to  the  students  who 
attended  those  lectures  than  they  owe  to  me  in  guiding  them ;  for 
they  have  always  kept  high  the  standard  of  crystallographic  work 
in  their  investigations  as  in  their  teaching.  Among  these  I  must 
mention  my  old  friend,  W.  J.  Lewis,  now  Professor  at  Cambridge : 
and  I  need  only  allude  to  the  remarkable  memoirs  on  ‘  Thermic 
Dilatation  in  Crystals  ’  and  on  the  ‘  Optical  Indicatrix  5  by  the 
able  mathematician  who  succeeded  me  at  the  British  Museum, 
Mr.  Eletcher,  and  to  the  fine  work  of  his  first  assistant,  Mr.  Miers. 
to  justify  me  in  saying  that  if  I  have  had  any  merit  in  directing 
such  men  upon  their  way,  it  is  to  their  own  qualities  that  the 
success  or  that  little  Oxford  school  is  due.  Gladly,  if  it  were 
possible,  would  I  divide  that  Medal  among  those  who  have  so  con¬ 
tributed  to  the  winning  of  it,  and  retain  as  my  own  share  the 
grateiol  remembrance  that  you,  Sir,  and  the  Council  have  thought 
me  worthy  to  receive  it,  with  the  features  stamped  on  it  of 
that  distinguished  Englishman  its  Pounder,  the  man  to  whom  we 
owe  the  instrument  so  simple,  so  accurate,  and  so  indispensable — • 
the  reflection-goniometer ;  the  instrument  which  made  it  possible 
for  Crystallography  to  become  an  exact  science. 
Einally,  in  respect  to  the  last  part  of  your  observations,  I  may 
say  that  of  the  many  duties  imposed  on  me  by  my  county  during 
the  past  few  years,  I  am  relieved  now  of  one  of  the  weightiest,  and 
5Ld.ll  be  able,  I  trust,  to  devote  much  of  the  leisure  of  what  may  be 
leit  to  me  of  life  to  the  subjects  which  were  heretofore  my  chief 
