Bend tests have been carried out on some small crystals chemically extracted from two-phase alloys and on some whiskers and other small crystals grown from liquid or vapor phases. Crystals of β-manganese, Mn 5Si 3, α-Si 3N 4, α-Al 2O 3, Cr 3O 4, Cr 2N, chromium, and Fe 3C were studied. All of these materials could be bent to relatively large elastic strains, and the calculated strengths of most of them approach theoretical values. The results are discussed in some detail, and it is concluded that although metal whiskers are unique because of the absence of edge dislocations, the occurrence of other crystals with nearly theoretical strength is not unusual. There is some evidence that dislocations have little effect on the mechanical properties of hard or brittle microcrystals, and it appears that a distinction should be made between those crystals eventually failing by brittle fracture and those that fail by plastic deformation.