Note 2 — Chapter I · THE PROBLEM STATED.
Reading edition
Crystals not only grow by assimilation, but even repair injuries, with a certain superficial resemblance to the repair of animal tissues. Thus, according to the experiments of Jordan cited by Sir James Paget (Lectures on Surgical Pathology, I. 153, and 2d ed. p. 115), an octohedral crystal of alum, if fractured and replaced in a motherlye will in a few days exhibit a complete restoration of the original form. The whole crystal increases, but the increase is greatest on the broken edge, and the octohedral form is completely renewed. (Comp. § 113.)