The Growth of a Crystal Being the eighteenth Robert Boyle lecture

"The Growth of a Crystal" by Henry Alex Miers is a lecture that examines how crystals develop, comparing and contrasting this process with the way living things grow. Miers uses history and up-to-date research to explain what crystals are made of and what makes them special. He talks about the basics of crystal growth, pointing out what it has in common with and how is different from the growth of living organisms, also presenting experiments that show how crystals can grow from solutions that have more of a substance than they should. He uses the idea of living things to show that crystals, though not alive in the same manner, have a unique existence where they keep their shape instead of changing to fit their environment.