The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1874-01-16
SHAM-JEWELRY.
From Chambers Journal.

SdAM-JH WELRX.
From Chambers Journal.
The passion for i,welry has been a
habit of mankind from the days OF
Solomon to those of the shah. It was
illustrated by the idolators of Som
nath; it blazed at the feet of the Ester.
hazies it has eliminated in the tiara
and belt of Nasr-Shah- -Eddin This
potentate made himself the cYnosure of
Europe by means of the diamonds fam
ing upon his aigreete, his breast, and the
hilt and sheath of his cimetar; and so
the subject of gems has been wonder
fully upon the carpet lately. But with
fashion comes ambition. People will
wear glittering ornaments somehow,
and prefer the false to none at all. In
romance, these lustrous deceptions have
played a high part, as in the story, by
Dumas, of the GO Three Musqueteers, -
where a brilliant bit of dissimulation
saves Anna of Austria from disgrace.
Everybody, too, has read tales of ex-
travagant ladies pledging their gen
uine jewels and wearing shams for the
deception of society. And the art has
reached such perfection that, apart
from certain tests, which of course are
impossible to apply, they really do de-
ceive. In fash and splendor the i1ni-
tated are often scarcely inferior to the
originals whence by the chemists magic
they are copied. In dealing with this
consummate kind of forgery one pre-
liminary remark has 90 be made. Jew
els viewed in a natural and Jewels
viewed in an artificial light are like
certain sorts of beauty, not to be COM
pared. There is a fluid radiance in
them which wants refraction ; the for
mer take it from the sun, the latter
from the chandelier. In the case of
the peerless stone, however, the dia-
mond, the object of the splendid illu-
sion is to produce perfectly colorless
substance, thoroughly lucid, and capa-
pie of rejecting all lights. To this
pebble-for it is nothing more-have
been attributed many virtues but it
can be fabricated by science with a
very near approach to reality. First, it
is necessary to dissolve charcoal. Then
follow processes requiring crystaliza-
ton mingling of pure water, lit
tie carbonate of sulphur, and certain
proportions of liquifed phosphorus.
Still, all this may not yield thorough
ly deceptive diamond. Another COM
position is made from silver-sand, very
pure potash, minimum, oalcined borax,
and form of arsenic, varied occasion
ally by mixture of strdS8-a mixture
for which an equivalent is paste, and
which represents transparent pebbles
burnt to powder, white lead, and other
similar materials. Sometimes rock
crystal is used, with borax acid from
Italy, aud nitrate of potash. OF the e
materials is composed the false diamond
which figures so alluringly in the shop
windows of the PaIais Royal.
Let us turn to the sapphire, the next
esteemed among precious stones, even
above the emerald and the ruby. It is
a product of the East, though found of
inferior quality in Bohemia, Saxony,
and France, among rocks of the second
ary period. There are white sapphires
occasionally mistaken for diamonds /;
crimson, or carmine, resplendent beyond
description; vermilion and topaz-tinted
Indeed we may assign rank to the emer-
aid as the daughter of the sapphire.
Do you covet them in order to beam
with borrowed Iustre at a ball Take,
as the cookery-book says, one ounce of
paste, mix with two grains of precipi-
tated oxide of cobalt, and there you
have the colored and glowing necklet,
which none except jeweler can detect.
SupposiDg, however, that you desire
earrings of chrysoberyl, or chrysopaI-
or cymophane, as the French term it,
which means floating light" t"-the trife
is exceedingly pretty, with its surface
of asparagus, green as its heart of radi
ating fire. Yet it is to be emulated by
combination of aluminium, SILICA, OK
| ide of iron, and lime.
Coming to the splendid gem, the ru.
by, whether of Brazil, Barbary, or Bo.
hemia, with its cherry or purple red,
varied by opalescent or milky aspects,
| there are various methods of rivaling il
with litharge and calcined shells
with paste, antimony, glass, and purple
of Cassius with white sand washed il
hydrochloric acid, minium, calcined
potash, calcined borax, and oxide oi
silver stirred in a crucible. We are fur.
n'shing our iewel-box rapidly, and at 8
very moderate expense. But care must
be taken less, through an imprudent ad
mixture, your fictitious ruby should
suggest the idea OF garnet, which is &
poor and unrecognizable relation of the
family. The topaz has never been very
fashionable in England; but it is s
charming gem in all its varieties-yel
low, white, colorless-" drops Of water,
the Dutch lapidaries call these-orange
shining to little disadvantage among tn,