Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-09-16
ARTIFICIAL RUBTES.
care rubies made artificially?

g Are TuDleS maze dItlnC4dlly-
ssYes. but not with entire success.
Two or three years ago certain french
chemists claimed that they had discov-
cred a process for absolutely manutac-
turiug bic rubies in the laboratory by |
fusing together small ruby sparks, sucn |
sszss45sbe bought for almost nothing II |
aaSs9 will remember that the value OF the |
rIibv Is nearly double that of the dla- |
mond. the color and quality otherwise !
being first rate, you can imagine WHAT |
an agitation such an announcement oc-
casioued among dealers. Nor was the
announcement altogether without truth
as aDDeared from the report MADE on the
subject by the celebrated professor
Friedel of the French institute,
who said that he found the chemical
oomnosition density, crystalline form
! and retroactive power of the artlhelal
| eDecimens to correspond in every re-
| snect with the natural ruby. The only
| difference he could find was a sllght
variation in the shape of the tiny ar
! bubbles However, the dealers threat
ened to prosecute anyone for fraud VINO
| ventured to issue the artificial ruDies as
real ones. and. inasmuch as their COM
| bination is very rich and powerful ana
the laws against selling counterfeit
Jewels for actual ones are very strlcC III
4 France, the fused rubies have never
4 got upon the market. 1t was great
scheme to make $40, 600 ruby out Oh %
worth of sparks.
Pr-BIEs AND WHERE THEY ARE FOUND.
ssThe sparks you speak of are reab
rUbies, of course?
com yes. That is the trouble about
rubies There are plenty of them, but
very very few good sized ones. The
greatest ruby fields in the world are those
of Rurmah. where the natives have Tor
centuries been digging for them III the
most primitive and therefore most I'M
D,oftabIe manner. They are found III
} Quantities in successive strata, with lay
ers of earth and clay between at llttle
depth below the surface soil. But nearly
ALI are so small as to be scarcely Valu-
able Only occasionally big one, Win
the +rue pireon 's-blood color, tRfaas up
There used to be wonderful accounts ol
. +J,e lars full of large rubies- which tSf1le
Theebaw of Burmah had inShis palace p;
e NIandslay. but not many wsFes$eunqgpy
, tho British when they lootedE# the
$ civ short time ago. perhaps
they were carried off and hidden away
Inv the natives CuTously enough, the
. an+iciration of the finding of these hoard
of the king by the English soldiers haC
, unite 8 depressing effect upon the ruby
market. A lowering in the value OF TN
oraro being feared as 81 result of a suddeI
throwing of q great supply before tn
yy00 purchasing public. Rubies are ais
% largely obtained in Ceylon, where tn
90 natives make a business of hunting 10
o o0 Them in the streams that come dow
100 from the huge cone of mountains IN tn
100 central mart of the island, where II ha
~ l,eer srDDosed for centuries that grea
ratrix of rubies existed, above I'd
700 cIouds from whence those found IN IN
0O rivers are washed down. Nor is such
theory entirely without reason, thong
80 nobody has been able to find the matrl
-eo VET When discovered it will afford
I'LL profitable opportunity for the use Oh a lie
'ct hounds of dynamite. -
LIs PEARLS AND INVITATIONS.
Are there pearls from Ceylon:
on ewes the waters theTeabout are
Pc. GREAT pearl-fshing ground. Next spri1
la will be the harvest of pearls at CeyloT
which comes only once in three year
20 Retveep the harvests the natives wa
in not1entlv for the oysters to grow rear
my are largely counterfeited, as you know
81, the hest limitations being made OF hollo
class beads. lined with transparent We
;. and scales taken from living FISH. II
- 3&nearI is chiefly composed OF carbonate
]. lime. with films of animal memora
- between its many layers. These men
N brane films, becoming dry, gives [
can Dearl its hardness. The suostan
md of the pearl Is Shiny seer
ng' ton of the oyster, which is orc
ing narilv deposited upon the interior su
ce face of the shell, forming what Is call
ia smother of pearl. Grains of sand