The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-09-30
GEMS FROM STARS.
DIAMONDS FOUND IN A METEOR
TIE IN ARIZONA.
Were All Diamonds Brought to tho
Earth by Meteors?-A Subject
Of Great Specula-
tive Interest.

Of all the curiosities which the wise
men of the Association for the Advance
ment of Science brought to Washington
for exhibition to their fellows, the most
extraordinary was meteorite with dia-
monds in it. Such a thing has never
been seen or heard OF before; in fact, It
was the only specimen of the kind thus
far discovered in the world. The dia-!
monds were little ones, but what they
signi6ed was big.
The meteorite in question was one OF
many found recently in Arizona, near
the Canon Diablo. It was supposed by
the discoverers that they had hit upon
an iron mine of enormous value, but in
vestigation proved that the great chunks
of metal picked up had been shot out Of
the realms of space. The place whence
they were obtained is known as the
"Crater," because it looks like one;.
being a circular hollow one hundred feet
in depth, three quarters of mile wide,
and surrounded by wall Of rock SO steep
that the bottom Is strewn with the skele-
tons of animals which have got in and
been unable to climb out again. Never
theless, it is not of volcanic origin, as is
proved with certainty by the fact that
there is no lava, oosidian-volcanic glass
or other volcanic product in ths
neighborhood. What was it then that
made the crater9 Biologists say
that it was formed by the i'm
pact of single gigantic meteor, which at
some time in the past struck the earth and
buried itself out of sight, leaving q hole
which has since become partly filed up,
surrounded by o wall of rock that was
forced out of place. Imagine what a big
one it must have been to leave cavity
three-fourths Of mile in width where it
hut this planet. The huge mass of iron OF
which it was composed is there yet, OF
course. Perhaps it is not sunk too deep
to render mining for its material unproft-
able. Fragments of it formed the masses
that were picked up by the prospecson
above referred to.
That one which contained the dia-,
monds, however, has opened an absorbing
subject for speculation. 1t proves that
there are diamonds in other worlds than
ours; but also it points to many other
important conclusions. The diamonds OF
the famous Kimberly mices, which at
present produce almost the entire worlds
supply Of these gems, are all found atthe
bottoms of Just such craters as the one
described in Arizona. It is believed that
these :raters, SO called, were formed by the
impact of great meteors, because there Is
no other conceivable way in which they
could have been made, and for other
reasons geological. If so, then it must
be inferred that probably all the diamonds
of the world were brought to this terres-
trial sphere by meteorites. In other
words, these precious jewels are not
native to the earth, but have been fetched
hither with the dust of other stars. That
accounts for the manner, hitherto deemed
unaccouutable, in which they are scat
tered everywhere through drift OF all
sorts, having apparently no birthplsce or
definite relation to other minerals. ,S
Soma scientists 60 so far as to assert
that diamonds, like coal, which Is 50
nearly of the same chemical constitution,
could not possibly come into existence
without previous vegetable groWths to-
generate their material. For this resson
they infer that the finding Of the gems in
the meteorite demonstrates that there
must have been vegetable life, at all
events, in the place whence the meteorite
came. If there was vegetable life there.
it is a fair presumption that there was
animal life also. All this may be un-;;
true, but it affords the FIRST guess glimpse
that has ever been obtained into the
greatest problem that mankind has ever
attempted to haudle-namely, the ques-
ton whether life exists in other worlds
than Ours. From the philosophical
point of view, the fact cannot but be
taken for granted in universe in which
the sun is merely an inferior star OF tne
fourth magnitude. Nevertheless, some
absolute evidence on the point would be
extremely satisfactory.
Meteorites ordinarily are nearly all
iron, with small percentage OF nickel.
None of them has ever been known to
contain particle of any precious metal.
Nevertheless, many of them are worth
many times their weight in gold, because
of some regularity of structure or Other
wise. Every collector of minerals makes
it matter Of pride to have a specimen
of every known kind of meteorite in his
cabinet. If new sort turns up and he.
has not piece he is unhappy. It hap
pens sometimes that one weighing not
more than pound, of makeup that
has not been seen before, will sell In DTS
for a couple of thousand dollars, II its
possessor knows how to dispose OF 1t.
People are not less interested in other
worlds because they know nothing