The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-12-02 00:00:00

THE DIA/40ND FIELDS OF SOUTH
AFRICA.

On Monday evening, at the Royal Polytechnic
London, the promise of an illustrated lecture on ths in
teresting subject of the diamond Sells of South Africa,
by Mr. Tobin, who has just retorted from =exploring
trip, drew together a very large audience. The lec-
ture WWI given in the large theatre, and when Pro-
fessor Pepper introduced Mr. Tobin, a former lecturer
of the institution. who hail travelled to and from South
Africa us a captain if a band if explorers, the warm
welcome the lecturer received evidenced that he had not
been forgotten, and that he had an eager and sym-
pathetic audience.
The lecturer commenced by reminding his audience
that when news of the diamond discoveries and some :
of the results reached England, an expedition was
fitted out under Mr. Streeter, who thus maintained
the old reputation of Loudon for enterprise by sending
out to so remote a spot in search of the precious gems.
After narrating some of the circumstances which in-
duced him to become the captain of the explorers, the
theatre was darkened, and an illuminated map of the
journey was shown, the different routes were marked
out, the cost of modes of travelling were detailed, and
the features of the country travelled over were touched
upon, so as to place all the facts before his hearers.
The lecturer then described the nature of the
soil of the diamond-fields, showing it to have been
at some prehistoric time the bed of an ocean acted
upon by volcanic lire, and it was in the soil marked by
these eruptions, he said, where the richest gems were
found. The geological formation of the beds of the
Orange and Vaal Rivers next formed the subject of
the lecturer's remarks, and he aroused the deep interest
, of his audience by narrating how brilliant stones,
glistening in the tropical sun, burst uladt the sight of
the new corner, who, however, soon found that these
shining 11,4hts of the earth were of little commercial
value, being but jaspers, garnets, agates, and the ;Ike,
and were little regarded by diamond seskers. The
audience then had presented to them many sketches,
Illuminated by the lime-light, of places of interest in
the first "finds," and touching upon the composition
of the gem, he stated that minf of its bein4 nothing
more, chymically, than a mere piece of cat lion, would
be demonstrated before them.
Professor Pepper here stepped forward and said that
in order to give Mr. Tobin a little time for rest in what
was to him then, having just come from a warm

climate, a most trying period, owing to the November
fog., he himself would exhibit the burning of a gem.
The professor took three bottles, in one of which he
burnt a taper to create carbon, the second he filled
with oxygen gas, and in the third he placed sonic water
which he carbonized by air from his lungs. He took
an uncut diamond, placed it in a platinum cage, and
made it red hot by means of the oxyhydmgen blow.
pipe, and when it was placed in the second bottle, that
filled with the oxygen gas, it burnt for several minutes,
in the darkened theatre, with a brilliant glow. He
placed lime water in the bottles, and poured a few
drops of acid into each bottle, and the carbon in each
vessel was the same—had been resolved into one
element.

Mr. Tobin then resumed Lis lecture, and gave an
amusing awl interesting account of the history of the
diamond " finds " the manner of working, and he illus-
trated his remarks by referring to some further sketches
he had made during his travels. At the end of the
lecture specimens of diamonds, garnets, rubies, and
other precious stone formations were shown, from the
vt sea themselves, on the illmninated disk, the speci-
inens being lent by Mr. Streeter. Some beautiful
diamonds in the rough, one of the very few coloured
stones at present known to have been found in South
Africa, in itself an exquisite gem, were also exhibited
by the cause gentleman.
, . .

'The lecturer was heartily applauded, and he pro-
mised to add to the interest of his address on future
occasions by exhibiting on the disk photographs ob.
tabled by him on his journey.