Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-02-18


uRble Discovery by Aocident- Expert.
ments Of the Austrian Emperor and
Others. L'Atb r-
Some twenty years ago, an Emperor of
Austria, poor old Ferdinand / who fancied
that he was mechanical genius" and
whose courtiers encouraged him in the be-
lief, conceived the. notion that it would be
possible to melt the diamond. His Majesty
was fond of turning on the lathe, and pos
sessed some skill in working metals, which
had driven him to make a jewel.box, inlaid
with gold, and various other things, still TO
be seen at the museum of the Imperial Hof-
burg at Vienna.
Handling the crown-jewels, it struck the
ingenious Emperor that the diamonds were
unlike in size, and many of them exceedingly
difficult to fit into the holes which his cum
ming hand was preparingi when suddenly
the thought flashed through his brain that Il
would be capital thing II he could melt all
the little sparkling jewels into one big dia-
mond.
A professor of chemistry was sent for and
ordered to melt the diamonds The poor
sdVdnt was hoTror-struck, and attempted
some faint excuses, which had the effect of
making Kaiser Ferdinand still more impa-
tient for the execution of his great idea. All
protests being hopeless, there remained moth
ing for the man of science but to sit down in
the imperial cabinet and begin the task.
1t was a hard piece of work. No heat
would affect the diamonds and however
hard the bellows worked the precious stones
remained untouched in their crystal purity.
At last, almost in despair, the professor tried
new sort of rejecting mirror, invented
by a tradesman at Vienna, which concen-
trated an unusually large amount of the
suns rays into very small focus.
Under this mirror the diamonds suddenly
changed color, and in very short while
! burned up with a bright flame, like q piece
of coal. The Kaiser saw it distinctly; so
did the man of science. There could be no
mistake; the diamonds, if not carbon, burned
very much like carbon. His Majesty was
very much downcastsat the loss of his beau
tiful diamonds; but the sGVdnt-with no
jewels of his own to lose-was rather elated
than otherwise at theSunexpected discovery.
On his earnest entreaty the Emperor con-
sented to sacrifice two more diamonds for
experimental purposes, and the proper prep
atiOns being entered into this second time,
it was settled without the possibility of
doubt that diamonds consist indeed of car
bon, and nothing but carbon. The news was
| forthwith proclaimed throughout the scien-
tiic world, and before long, many more ex-
| periments having been made, the dictum
went forth that the substance called diamond
| was crystalized colorless carbon"
| The scientific world rejoiced over this
great discovery but the poor Emperor felt
very sad at the loss Of his hopes and his di-
Almonds. He got more desponding than ever
in his views of men and things, and after a
while made it his great and sole, occupation
! to sit at the windows of his palace and count
the horses and carriages passing through the
| gate below-there being thoroughfare
through the courtyard of the Imperial Hof-
burg. s... ..a ...t.
! This occupation.his Majesty pursued with
/ great zeal for nearly score of years, till the
! day when the crown and the Hofburg were
handed over to his nephew, Francis Joseph,
| and he had to retreat to the gloomy Hradshin
Of Prague. Meanwhile, the sauSns of Eu,
rope were busying their brains with taking
advantage of the fruits of the imperial
'idea," and trying hard to find the means,
not only of changing diamonds into carbon,
but Vice versa, carbon into diamonds.
Endless were the experiments made to this
effect, hut the result was nal in every
case. To make any substance crys-
talize, it must first be changed into q flnid
and in this none succeeded. DR.. Stockhard
ofLeipZig, came nearest the mark, and OBJ
tanned some substance very like diamonds
by the action of electricity upon q mix.
ture of carbonic acid and hydrogen.
M. Cagniard de la Tour, French chemist
likewise claimed the honor of having made
diamonds by galvanic action and NJ. Des
pretz announced having done the same by
the influence of electricity upon certain
compounds Of carbon. Ali these pretended
discoveries, however, turned out to be ulti-
mately of nogreal value, the produce being
in all cases not the body called diamond, bui
some substance more or less diamond-like.
The French papers which have just
reached us contain one more announcement
of the same kind; and, if any scepticisn
had besn. epgendered by the past failures
there would really be hope for believing tina
the long sought art of making diamonds hat
at last been discovered.
According to these French reports, pub
lished by NJ. Rossi, of Toulon, crystals
twenty in number, having ell the properties
of the diamond, were made by Professo
GannaL They were obtained by the action
of phosphorus, water and bisulphide o
carbon upon each other, for the space of fif
teen weeks. .-.
The crystals were found to be so hard tina
no file would cut them; they cut glass lik
ordinary diamonds, and scratched the hard
est steel in brillianey and transparency the,
were in no way inferior to the best jewels
and some few possessed luster SURPRISING
that of most stones.
Last-not least--the substance SO pro
duced was crystalized in dodecahedra, tn
crystalline form characteristic of the dia
mond. In fact, if all that M. Rossi assert
snOul0 prove Iruet tnere ls HLIle uOuOI ina
Professor Gannal has really succeeded il
making diamonds. Kaiser Ferdinand is still
alive, mOurnfully meditating in his Bohe
mian retreat on the changes of men an
things in this ever. changing world. He ha
left off turning the lathe and given up tn
making of jewel boxes. Would it nat be
| kindness well deserved, if Monsieur Ganns
were to send couple Of his shining crystal
to the poor old Emperor.
/ EDWIN BooTH's SUCCESS AS "SHYLooK.
, The New York Tribune remarks:
| II A. .