The New York herald., 1879-12-20

They were brilliant. transparent and harder than
quartz. Submitted to intense heat in contact with
the air the crystals experienced not the slightest
change proof sufficient in itself that they were not
of the nature OF the diamond Besides. notwith-
standing their unusual hardness. they were
easily scratched by the latter gen. The
Academical savans concluded that they were
merely silicates artificial precious stones.
The experiments of NJ Ganral gained more
renown. Specimens Of his productions were sent
to NJ. champigny. director of the workrooms of the
jeweller Petitot, who examined them with care; and
having satise himself that they scratched steel and
could be scratched by no metal. that they were or
pure water and displayed brilliant lustre. con-
cluded that these little bodies nothing else but
diamonds. This declaration, coming from a man
well versed in the special trade created a
panic in the diamond business; for 1t y. is
well known that any sudden rise or fall
in the value of precious stones would be attended
by consequences only second in. Importance to
sudden variations in the value of gold. During the
French Revolution the price OF diamonds
doubled in few months. Tue immense capital which
In this form now lies dormant in royal treasures or
in private hands is little suspected by people outside
the trade.
TESTED BY FIRE.
At the time Of Nj. Gannal's experiments the nature
of the diamond was still inperfectly understood
The first important fact about it was established as
Bse who that nndsr the
of great heat the diamond disappeared
In 1894 Cosmo ILL.,. Grand Duke of Tuscany
subjected diamond at Florence to the intense heat
of the suns by means of concave mirror. The
diamond first split then emitted sparks. then dsap-
peared. hundred years later French laptdary
named Maillard affirmed that fire had effect upon
the diamond He took the bowl Of tobacco pipe
placed three diamonds inside in the midst of char
coal powder closely packed closed the mouth of the
pipe with cover of iron and then shut up the
whole in crucbe filed with chalk and covered with
siliceous coating. The crucble was now subjected
to temperature such that at the end OF four
hours it was completely. soft. Then the fire was
slackened. As soon as the crucible cooled it was
broken tho nina bowl found entiro. with
the charcoal in it as black at first and in the
midst of this were the three diamonds, in every re-
spect unaltered and uniniured. The precious stone
had always disappeared when heated in the presence
of air. 1t had undergone no modification when re-
dered charcoal and lime. Upon this Sir Humphrey
Davy in England and Lavoisier in France speedily
solved the problem What is the dsmond asks
whole world And what is carbon? The most
common material that is known. Yetthe diamond
and carbon are identical. Diamond is crystallized
carbon" All doubts upon this question were dis
PEELED by the publication in 1s41 of the work of NM
Dumas and Stass
WEALTH IN THE cnuc1BLE.
M. Gannal's crystals having been shown to be
worthless, the slumbers of jewel owners were again
disturbed by the experiments OF M. Despretz. This
patient and persevering chemist fxed cylinder Of
pure carbon to the positive pole Of weak Daniell
plunged both poles into slightly acidulated water
After two months the negative wire or pole became
coverea with o.ack = COATING me OF har ar9
stones. He proved. in the presence OF M. Despretz
and others. that. mixed with little OIL the sub
stance which had enveloped the platina wire
suficed to polish several rubies AS it s known
that the diamond is the only substance that polishes
the ruby. NJ. Gaudin did not hesitate to consider
the substance as the powder Of the diamond. This
conclusion was generally accepted by mon of
science ''The question still remains" says M.
Dienlafait, is there any reasonable probability that
the diamond will yet be produced artiAcally? !?
This question we must answer in the Affirmative.
When it is considered how perfectly substances
much more complex in composition and compli-
Gated in crystalline constitution have been artif-
cal produced; when it is considered, too. what def
mite results furnished by the experiments Of
NJ Despretz-for in such case size Of the crys-
tails is matter Of indifference-there seems to be
no reason for serious doubts of the possibility Of
the artificial reproduction Of the diamond. Un-
doubtedly it will be discovery from which dia-
mond merchants and owners Of diamonds will have
much to suffer: but in this. in other cases, the
loss that will fall upon small section of the
munity will be ontweighed a thousand times by the
advantages whicl rts and industry in general will
derive from the discovery."]