Catoctin clarion., 1889-11-14
COUNTERFEIT GEMS.
PRECIOUS JEWELS PRODUCED BY
SKILLFUl CHEMISTS.

Not impossible to Make $4,000 Gem
from u Worth Of Sparks-lIOw t" De-
tsct Frauds-lntercsting Facts About
Valuable Stones.
"That Is very beautiful stone, said re-
porter to Washington jeweer, calling tho
!atter,s attention to dark purple gem OF
considerable size, with vivid red fire, which
lay in satin lined box within the glass show
case at seems very cheap, too, for its nP
parent value"
ut is cheap for the reason that 1t is not
real stone" replied the dealer.
IAN imitatont"
'No, It is not an imitation. On tho con-
trary it does not at all resemble, to the eye
Of an expert, any gem that is known in nat
ura 1t Is simply a chemical product, that is
all. You see, the chemists, having abandoned
the manufacture of gold as hopeless arc
trying now to make precious stones artificial
", and with some SUCCESS dare say you
arc not aware that actual, bona fitle dia-
monds have been produced in this way. And
vet diamonds have been artiflcially manu-
factured for years. An English exIGrimenter
first accomplished the feat, and 1t has been
successfully repeated many times since. The
only trouble Is that the diamonds turned out
by chemical artiice nre almost microscopic,
and therefore practically worthless At the
exposition in London some dozens OF them
were exhibited, gumnlcd on paper, under
magnfting glass. Every effort has been
mndo to increase their size, though in vain.
Apparently tho production of diamonds big
enough to be worth anything could only DO
accomplished by forces and elements working
On the mighty scale Of natures laboratory
when the world was being rendered out of
chaos into habitable shape"
ARTIFICIAL RUBIES
'But other stones can be made urtiicially
of profitable sizef"
"A few. No real gem, however, except tho
diamond, has been fairly reproduced exactly
rs it is found in nature, though limitations
are plentiful enough. Tho precious stones
made by the chemists If such they may be
ralled, arc new inventions to the lapidary.
Many of them are very beautiful. This pur.
,,le one you have asked about, for instance,
As lovely. 1t has been named the 'violane du
sap,' and is as attractive jewel as many nat
ural ones four times its price. French chem
lists are the great experts in this branch Of
manufacture and their inventions are usually
kept secret. Some of tho artificial gems they
make arc doubtless pretty costly to produce,
n. for that matter nre the microscopic dia-
n,onds, which are as expensive to turn out as
good big ones in the market"
"Are rubics made nrtificinllyT'
'Yes,: but not with entire success Two
or three years ago certain French chemists
c,uhned that they had discovered process
for absolutely manufacturing big rubies in
sl,e laboratory by fusing together small ruby
sparks, such as can be bought for almost
nothing. II you will remember that the
value OF tho ruby Is nearly double that of the
diamond the color and quality otherwise
being first rate, you can imagine what an
agitation such an announcement occasioned
among the dealers. Nor was the announce
rncnt altogether without truth, as appeared
from tue report made on tho subject by tho
celebrated Professor Friedel, Of the French
institute, who said that he found the cheml-
cal composition, density, crystalline form
and refractive power Of the artificial speci-
mems to correspond in every respect with the
natural ruby. The only difference he could
find was slight variation in the shape of
the tiny air bubbles. However, tho dealers
threatened to prosecute any one for fraud
who ventured to issue the artificial rubies as
real ones, and, inaslnuch as their combina-
ton is very rich and powerful and the laws
against selling counterfeit jewels for actual
ones is very strict in Franco, the fused rubies
have never got upon the market. 1t was n
great scheme to mako a $4,000 ruby out Of
g worth Of sparks"
1.-The sparks you speak of are real rubies,
Of coursei'
"Oh yes That Is the trouble about rubies.
There arc plenty Of them, but very few good
sized ones The greatest ruby fields in the
world are those of Burmah, where tho natives
have for centuries been digging for them In
tho most primitive and therefore most un-
profitable manner. They are found in quan-
titles In successive strata, with layers OF
earth and clay between Mt n littlo depth be-
low tho surface soil. But nearly all aro SO
small as to be scarcely valuable. Only &C.
casionally big one. with the true pigeons
blood color, turns up.
KING THEEBAw's JEWELS.
''rhcre used to DO wonderful accounts OF
the Jars full Of large rubics which Eing Thee
bawof Burmah had in his palace ut Manda-
lay, but not many were found by the British
when they looted the city. Perhaps they
were carried of and hidden away by tho mo-
tvea
'Curiously enough, the anticipation Of the
finding of these boards Of the king by the
English soldiers had quite depressing effect
vnlue of the gem being feared as result Of o
sudden throwing Of great supplies before the
purchasing public. Rubies are also largely
obtained in Ceylon, where the natives make
business Of hunting for them in the streams
that come down from the huge cone Of noun
tains in the central part Of the island. whero
it has been supposed for centuries that q great
matrix of rubles existed above the clouds,
from whence those found in tho rivers are
washed down. Nor is such theory entirely
without reason, though nobody has been able
to find the matrix yet When discovered, it
will afford profitable opportunity for the
use Of q few pounds of dynamite"
Are there pearls from CeylonT
"Ycs, the waters thereabout are a great
pearl fishing ground. Between the harvests
the natives wait patiently for the oysters to
grow. Pearls are largely counterfeted, rs
you know, the best miations being made Of
hollow glass beads linel with transparent wax
and scales taken from living fish. The pearl
is chiefly composed Of carbonate OF lime, with
films Of animal membrane between its many
layers These membrane films becoming dry
gives the pearl its hardness The substance
of the pearl is n Shiny secretion, Of the oyster,
which is ordinarily deposited upon the in
terror surface of the shell, forming what is
called mother of PEARL Grains Of sand or
other foreign bodies, lodging within the
shell, produce an irritation of the tissues
which causes the deposit Of pearly matter
around them for tho oysters protection.
This matter is deposited, layer after layer,
until tho pearl is formed By the artificial
INTRODUCTION Of flinty particles pearls can be
mado to grow. The Chinese i'll this manner
compel q certain kind of fresh water mussel