The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1864-07-07
One inch Of space will be counted a squar
The Difference Between the Real and the
Imitation Diamond, i 1-u
From the New York Journal {

O1uAhVAVt
From the New York Journal OF Commerce
Within the past year some very fine ini-
tations.of diamonds have been put upon the
New York market, far surprising inlimipity
and retroactive power the best pastes for
merly known to the public under various
deceptive names The new limitations, like
the old ones, purport to be species Of cheap
diamonds from the gold producing coun-
tries of the world but the appellations are
purely fanciful, for they are only superior
articles Of pastes Some dealers claim them
to be a kind Of quartz, but that is true only
to the extent that pulverized quartz enter
into their composition, mixed with borax,
alumina, glutina, 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 only known to the Inanufacturer-in
Paris or Germany, for not one is,made in this
country, so far as known--and is Of course,
liealously guarded by them.
No respectable ieweller attempts to pass
off pastes as diamonds. Swindlers may
sometimes buy fine specimens from the
dealers and trade them away at the regular
/ diamond price but such cases must be
rare, for any person of the least common sense
who thought of purchasing diamond from
an individual not III trade, would be sure to
consult ieweler or other expert in pre-
cious stones, by whom the fraud would be
detected in an instant No paste can stand
all the test of the diamond. Its warmth to
the touch, its retention ofmosture, the ease
with which it can be scratched by agate or
topaz the minute air-bubbles which micro
scope discovers in its depths-all prove 1T
! to be an imitation. But the skillful eye can
tell the real diamond from the false at
glance. The former has a hardness of lus-
! tire cold glitter of refracted light, which
1 the finest pastes Just miss. But the most
experienced Judges can retain memory OF
| the lev lambency or adamantlne Splepdor OF
the genuine gem, so that they can always
apply it as test. Ordinary judges will be
I deceived by the improved pastes; and any
lady, who might be expected from the rich
ness of her attire to ware diamonds,may
swing out the pastes from her carson dis
pIay them on her fingers, without fear OF de-
! lection. till the brightness of the imitation
has departed for it goes sooner or later, with
the most careful usage. The permanent lus-
ter of crystalized carbon is it's one precious
| wholly ininitable quality, This perman-
ence or stability,it may be remarked, char
acterizes all the precious things OF nature,
gold, silver, ivory, and every one OF the gems.
limitations which are almost perfect In
every other respect, fail in that. 1t is natures
last, impossible barrier against art.
So far with the paste manufacturers.
A more Interesting branch of the subject
| is the chemical, or strictly scientific pro-
duction of diamonds from their native mate
! rial, carbon Some of the first chemists in
the world have devoted years OF toll to this
task, without success. Microscopic dla-
lnonds have been made, or are reported to
have been. Becquerrel, French chemist,
| produced minute crystalizations, having the
! hardness of diamonds, by the slow action
of electricity on lockwood charcoal, Ga very
pl,se form of carbon but they were nearly
black. Another Frenchman last year claim
ed to have made diamonds, by the reaction
of phosph rus on sulphide of carbon, both
being under water The sulphide of carbon
| dissolved the phosphorus, and the latter, II
was said, slowly combined With the sulphur,
freeing the carbon which crystallzed out
! Nobody ever saw the diamonds-but nle
maker Many experiments have been made
with this remarkable fluid (sulphide OF car
> bon) and from it if from any source, the art.
ificiaI diamonds must come. 1t consists OF
uure sulphur and pure carbon, IN the pro.
portions of about five of the former to one OF
the latter The carbon ingredient Is ID fact
diamonds in fuidity, possessing the wo Do,
erful retroactive power of the real gems. Inc
exceeding briliancy of the sulpElde OF car
bon adapts it peculiarly for use IN poisons,
, for spectral anaiySis-that new department
Of modern science by which some OF the most
extraordinary discoveries of the age have
been made. Now, if it were possible to IN
sulate the carbon and let it crystallze out,
diamonds could be made Ordinary attempts
to decompose the fluid by electricity give
deposite of sulphur on one pole and OF BLACK
4 cb arcoa in small grains, on the other. oil
YER has powerful affinity for sulphur; ana
an English chemist tried the effect OF inner
stag that metal in the huid hoping to sepa-
rate the carbon in that way, but nothing
/ came of it after ten years experimenting,
French chemist has brought cut during
the present year, all entirely new process OF
, making diamonds directly from charcoal,
nv the action of borax which he claims, DIS
solves the carbon at high heat, yielding
| one hound of brilliants of the first water per
husbed of charcoal 1t is further said that
natent for this process has been taken out
bv the inventor fer the United States as
well as for all other countries where spark
lers" are in request Such are the extraordi-
nary ''yarns' to which scientific journals
sometimes give currency probably for the
fun Of the thing since the editors must know
F that nothing can be more absurd than the
alleged discovery.
i 1t is not quite safe to predict what science
will not do; but this much may be said,
4 tnat the prospect of making diamonds artl-
fcially from carbon, except in natures Sc
cret and awful laboratory OF the ages is
about as Aattering as that Of the discovery
of the philosophers stone"
Il - y So
MEASLES. Mr.. Swift, Of Detroit a
-.,Lo,o re tho AfIyerkjeef