Morphological Studies

In his chief field of work, morphological crystallography, Palache brought himself and the Department of Mineralogy to a pre-eminent position in research on the external geometry of crystals. There is scarcely a crystallized mineral that he did not investigate. He introduced the first Goldschmidt two-circle goniometer into the United States, in 1896, and elaborated this method in a series of papers that with later amplifications by his students are standard references. The present general use in America of two-circle goniometric methods in the characterization of crystallized substances derives largely from his work.

Palache’s publications deal chiefly with systematics and descriptive matters, and it is through the work of his students that we see the keen and stimulating interests he had in the genetic and interpretive aspects of mineralogy. His published papers, over 150 in number, include classical studies of the morphology and calcite azurite, the gold tellurides, the lead oxyhalides, and definitive investigations of numerous less common minerals. His studies of calcite culminated in 1943 in a critical review of the morphology of this species that surpasses the early works of Bournon, Zippe and Irby. His study of the tantalizing mineral calaverite, done in cooperation with Martin Peacock and Victor Goldschmidt, is a masterpiece of the art of crystallography under Palache in 1926, and returned as Research Assistant to him over the period 1932-1937. A brilliant man, with a gift for conciseness in style and rigor in presentation, he gave to Palache a kindly affection and shared with him both a 1ove of music and skill at the carpentry bench.

Palache’s published studies are only a small part of crystallographic work that he accomplished. In one project the available morphological data for all minerals was critically re-examined, recalculated in Goldschmidt’s scheme of presentation, and tabulated on filing cards. This modern version of Goldschmidt’s Winkeltabellen was not brought to full completion, however, partly from the realization that the new X-ray methods of study would in many instances necessitate a description different from that based on morphological grounds. There was further the growing realization, emphasized in the Harvard laboratory by Harry Berman, that the features of the mineral were not isolated matters but should be described in context with the chemical composition and crystal structure. Berman, the nearest to a son that Palache had, went to Harvard in 1924. He was versed in modern chemistry and physics, which Palache was not, and became a powerful stabilizing influence in the laboratory. Berman installed the first X-ray equipment at Harvard in 1933. The purely geometrical point of view of earlier years, that at times yielded ornamentations of morphological crystallography bordering on numerology, became realistic and broadly based.

The preparation of the 7th edition of Dana’s System of Mineralogy was started in 1937 under Palache’s leadership. He gave close attention to the problems of organization and computation of the crystallographic data, with the help of C. W. Wolfe and Peacock, and the files of the Dana contain a large store of measurements and computations that came from his hand. Although he did not prepare any of the manuscript, his counsel and factual knowledge contributed greatly to the progress of the work.

Crystals had a deep significance to Palache. In their morphology he seems to have found almost an element of mysticism, a response to the facets of a crystal seen in glittering progression in the quietness of a goniometer room, that revealed a self-contained system of order in a random world. The resolution of this order in terms of atoms and forces did not attract him. The full impact on mineralogy of the new X-rays and physical techniques came midway in his career. As a scientist he welcomed and used the knowledge thus brought of the ultimate structure of crystals, yet this new understanding terminated a traditional approach to the constitution of crystalline solids, one followed in mineralogy for a century and more, and destroyed for him the wonders of a thing unknowable and long sought.

Copyright © by the Mineralogical Society of America.