, 1864-07-01

/ times buy nne specimens from the dealers
and trade them away at the regular diamond
Price. but such caaes must be rare, for any
pe1Eon of the least common sense, VINO
thought Of purchasing q diamond from an
Individual not In the trade, would be sure to
consult q feWelcr or other expert in preaious
stones, by whom the fraud would be detec-
ted in an instant. No paste cnn stand all tha
tests Of the diamond It's warmth to the
toucL,l its retention Of moisture, the else
topaz, the minnie Dir bubbles which q micro
scope discovers In its depths. all prove it to
be IN imitation. But the skillf01 eve can tell
the real diamond fco1n the false at glance.
The former has darkness Of lustre, u cold
Glitter ct reffasted hght, which eIa the The finest
Experienced Judges can retain q memory
Of the Icy 1mbency or adaInantlne splen-
cor Of tie genuine gem, so that they can al
why's apply it as 8 test. Ordfnary judges
will be deceived by the improved paste !; and
any lady, who might be expected from the
richDess Of her attire to wear diamonds, may
swing cut the paste from her ears, or display
them on her fingers, without fear OF detcc-
ton, till the bril- ightness Of the imitation has
lepartcd; for 1t goes sooner or later, with
the most careful usage. The permanent lus-,
~trr or cIJstalIGed carbon Is its one precious
wholly lnimitable quality. Th,a per mauence
OF stubility, 1t may be remarked, character
silver, ivory, md every one Of thegems. In
tetiona, Whicl are aim most perfectin othcrre-
Bpects, fstf IN TINT It ia uature's Inst. i'm
paesible barrier against art. -.>.: -.
So far with the paste manufacturers,
4 more interesting branch of the subject
is the chemical, Or strictly scientific produce
tton Of diamonds from tleir native material.
carbon, Some Of the first chemists In the
world have devoted years Of toll to this task,
without success. microscopic diamonds
have been made or are reported to have been.
Becquere1, a, French Chemist, produced MI
mite cFyetalliZations having the hardness of
aiamonds,, by the slow action Of electricity
on lockwood charco "a very pure form Of
carbon but they we're nearly black. An
other Frenchman last year claimed to have
made diamonds, by the reaction Of phospho-
water. The sulphide of carbon dissolved
the phosphosus, and the latter, It was said,
slowly combined with the sulphur, freeing
the carbon which crysta1ized ont. Nobody
eyer saw the diumonds--but the maker.
Maay Experiments 1aTe been made
Of - carbon,) and 1 rom IT. It. i Su'gntae fro@
any source, the artificial diamond must
come. It consists Of pure sulphur and pure
carbon, In the proportions Of about i've Of
the former to one Of the latter. The carbon
Ingredient is, in fact, diamonds In state of
uu1d1Ey, possessing the wonderful rcfractlTe
power OF the real gems. The exceeding
hril1iancy Of the sulphfde Of carbon adapts
it peculiarly for use In pri5ms, for spectral
annlJ sis-that new department. of modern
science by which some OF the most extraor-
3inary discoveries OF the a8e huye been made.
Now, If 1t were possible to Isolate the carbon
and let il cIystallze out, diamonds could be-
made. Ordinary attempts to decomposs the
1uid by electricity .gtye deposit OF sulphur.
On one pole, and Of black charcoal, in small
grains, On the other, Silver has powerful
affinity for sulphur; mud an English chemist
tried tho effect Of immersiuS that metal
In the fluid, hoping to separate the car
bon In that way, but nothing came Of 1t
after ten years. experimenting. a French
chemist has brought ont, during the
present year, IN entirely new process Of
making diamonds directly from charcoal, By
the action Of borax, which he claims dis
solves the carbon at hish heat, yielding one
pound Of bril1iants Of the frat water per
bushel Of charcoal. It Is further said that
patent for this process has been taken outby
the inventor for the United States, as well aa
for all other countries where "spark1ers -
are In request. Such are the stYarns'' to
which scientific Journals sometimes gives !
currency, probably for the fun OF the thing,
since the editors must know that nothing
can be more absurd than the alleged discoY-
cry.
It ia not quite aafe to predict what science
will not do; but this much may be said,
that the prospect Of making diamonds arti-
ficially from carbon, except IN Nature's &c.
cret and awful laboratory OF the ages, is
about as tlattering MS that Of the discovery of
the "philosophcr's stone.