[22] Traité, ii. 320.
Enough has been said, probably, to enable the reader to judge how much each of the two persons, now under review, contributed to crystallography. It would be unwise to compare such contributions to science with the great discoveries of astronomy and chemistry; and we have seen how nearly the predecessors of Romé and Haüy had reached the point of knowledge on which these two crystallographers took their stand. But yet it is impossible not to allow, that in these discoveries, which thus gave form and substance to the science of crystallography, we have a manifestation of no common sagacity and skill. Here, as in other discoveries, were required ideas and facts;—clearness of geometrical conception which could deal with most complex relations of form; a minute and extensive acquaintance with actual crystals; and the talent and habit of referring these facts to the general ideas. Haüy, in particular, was happily endowed for his task. Without being a great mathematician, he was sufficiently a geometer to solve all the problems which his undertaking demanded; and though the mathematical reasoning might have been made more compendious [324] by one who was more at home in mathematical generalization, probably this could hardly have been done without making the subject less accessible and less attractive to persons moderately disciplined in mathematics. In all his reasonings upon particular cases, Haüy is acute and clear; while his general views appear to be suggested rather by a lively fancy than by a sage inductive spirit: and though he thus misses the character of a great philosopher, the vivacity of style, and felicity and happiness of illustration, which grace his book, and which agree well with the character of an Abbé of the old French monarchy, had a great and useful influence on the progress of the subject.
Unfortunately Romé de Lisle and Haüy were not only rivals, but in some measure enemies. The former might naturally feel some vexation at finding himself, in his later years (he died in 1790), thrown into shade by his more brilliant successor. In reference to Haüy’s use of cleavage, he speaks[23] of “innovators in crystallography, who may properly be called crystalloclasts.” Yet he adopted, in great measure, the same views of the formation of crystals by laminæ,[24] which Haüy illustrated by the destructive process at which he thus sneers. His sensitiveness was kept alive by the conduct of the Academy of Sciences, which took no notice of him and his labors;[25] probably because it was led by Buffon, who disliked Linnæus, and might dislike Romé as his follower; and who, as we have [seen], despised crystallography. Haüy revenged himself by rarely mentioning Romé in his works, though it was manifest that his obligations to him were immense; and by recording his errors while he corrected them. More fortunate than his rival, Haüy was, from the first, received with favor and applause. His lectures at Paris were eagerly listened to by persons from all quarters of the world. His views were, in this manner, speedily diffused; and the subject was soon pursued, in various ways, by mathematicians and mineralogists in every country of Europe.
[23] Pref. p. xxvii.
[24] T. ii. p. 21.
[25] Marx. Gesch. d. Cryst. 130.
CHAPTER III.
Reception and Corrections of the Hauïan Crystallography.
I HAVE not hitherto noticed the imperfections of the crystallographic views and methods of Haüy, because my business in the last section [325] was to mark the permanent additions he made to the science. His system did, however, require completion and rectification in various points; and in speaking of the crystallographers of the subsequent time, who may all be considered as the cultivators of the Hauïan doctrines, we must also consider what they did in correcting them.
The three main points in which this improvement was needed were;—a better determination of the crystalline forms of the special substances;—a more general and less arbitrary method of considering crystalline forms according to their symmetry; and a detection of more general conditions by which the crystalline angle is regulated. The first of these processes may be considered as the natural sequel of the Hauïan epoch: the other two must be treated as separate steps of discovery.