Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1864-06-23
THE EVENING STAR.
Th.Newe,, ARTIFICIAL Diam ends.

Within the past year some very fine imita-
tons of diamonds have been put upon the
New York market, tar SURPRISING in impidity
and retroactive powers the best pastes formerly
known to the public under various deceptive
pames. The new limitations, like the old ones.
fram tbe eold. producins Countries of the world,
but the applications are purely fanciful, TOT
they are only superior articles Of paste. Some
dealers claim them TO be q kind OF quartz. but
that is true only TO the extent that pulveriZed
quartz enters into their composition, mixed
with borax, alumina. glucina, arsenic, oxide of
tin or other ingredients. They are not cut
from the solid quartz, which is less brilliant
than the common pastes. The exact process Of
making these highly successful limitations is
known only TO the manufacturers-in Paris or
Germany, for not one il made in this country,
so far as known-and Is, OF course, jealousy
guarded by them.
No respectable jeweller attempts to pass off
paste as diamonds. Swindlers may sometimes
buy fine specimens from the dealers and trade
them away at the regular diamond price; out
such cases must be rare, for any person OF the
least common sense, who thought OF purcna-
sing diamond from an individual not in the
trade would be sure to consult jeweler or
other expert in precious stones, by whom the
fraud would be detected in an instant. No
paste can stand all the tests OF the diamond.
Its warmth to the touch, its retention Of moist
ure the ease with which 1t can be scratched
by agate or topaz, the minute air. bubbles
which a microscope discovers in its depths,
all prove il is an imitation. But the skillful
eve can tell the real diamond from the false at
glance. The former has q hardness Of lustre,
cold glitter Of refracted light which the finest
pastes just miss. None but the most expe-
rienced Judges can retain q memory of the lev
lambency or adamantlne splendor Of the gem
uine gem, so that they can always apply 1t as
q test.
Ordinary judges will be deceived by the i'm.
proved pastes; and any lady, who might be
expected from the richness of her attire to wear
diamonds, may swing out the pastes from her
ears, or display them on her fingers, without
fear Of detection, till the brightness of the im.
tation has departed; for it goes sooner or later,
with the most careful usage. The permanent
1ustre Of crystaliZed carbon is its one precious
wholly inimitable quality. This permanence
or stability, il may be remarked, characterizes
all the precious things of nature, gold, silver,
ivory and every one Of the gems. limitations,
in that IT is natures last, impossible barrier
against art.
So tar with the paste manufacturers.
A more interesting branch Of the subject ia
the chemical, or strictly scientific production
OF diamonds from their native material carbon
Some of the first chemists in the world have
devoted years Of toll to this task, without sue
cess. Microscopic diamonds have been made
or are reported to have been. Becquerel, a
French chemist, produced minute crystaliza-
tions having the hardness of diamonds, by the
slow action of electricity on lockwood char
coal "a very pure form of carbon,) but they
were nearly black. Another Frenchman last
year claimed to have made diamonds, by the
reaction Of phosphorus on sulphide Of carbon,
bon dissolved the phosphorus, and the latter,
it was said, slowly combined with the sulphur,
freeing the carbon which crystalized out.
Nobody ever saw the diamonds-butt the maker.
Many experiments have been made with this
remarkable fluid (sulphide Of carbon,) and
from 1t, if from any source, the artificial dia-
monds must come.
II consists Of pure sulphur and pure carbon,
in the proportions Of about five Of the former
70 one of the latter. The carbon ingredient is,
in fact, diamonds in a state Of fiuidity, pos
atrrvf FOL
real gems. The exceeding brilliancy Of the
sulphide Of carbon adapts it peculiarly for use
in prisms, for spectral analysis-that new de. |
partment of modern science by which some Of |
the most extraordinary discoveries of the age
have been made. Now, if 1t were possible to |
isolate the carbon and let It crystalize out,
diamonds could be made. Ordinary attempts
TO decompose the fluid BY electricity, give a
deposit of sulphur on one pole, and Of black
charcoal in small grains, on the other. Silver |
has powerful affinity for sulphur; and an |
LAT metal in the fluid, hoping to separate the |
carbon IN that way, but nothing came Of it at. |
ter ten years experimenting,
A French chemist has brought ont, during !
making diamonds directly from charcoal, by |
the action of borax, which he claims dissolves |
the carbon at hig IN heat, yielding one pound |
OF brilliants Of the first water per bushel OF
charcoal. 1t is further said that patent for |
this processshas been taken out Blythe inventor |
for the United States, as well as for all other |
countries where "sparklers" are In request! |
Such are the extraordinary s:yarns'' to which |
scientific journals sometimes give currency, |
probably for'tnefun q the thing, since the edI-
tors must know that nothing can be moro alb. |
surd than the alleged discovery. :;
II is not quite safe to predict what science |
will not do; but this much may be said, that |
the prospect Of making. diamonds artificially
from carbon, except in Natures secret and aw
full laboratory Of the ages, is about as latter-
ing as that OF the discovery Of the ''philoso-
piers stone."-NeW York Journal of Commerce.