The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-08-12

blebs, which. It appeared, were insepara-
and his views, as well as his method of
determining them, were generally adopted
by the trade.
MOISSAN, THE DIAMOND-MAKER.
All the diamonds yet produced by the
MoiSSan furnace are, like the first rubies,
can't. They are unQueStionable diamonds,
however, and Henri Moissan will pass
Into history as the first chemist who sue
ceeded in making the diamond, while his
efforts and his obstacl IS will likewise find
q place among the permanent records.
Whether diamond making today occupies
the position of ruby making IN S47 or 1877,
only Moissan's present experiments and
the next few years can satisfactorily de-
termine.
The diamond furnace has attracted so
much attention from the Royal society
set, and particularly the lady members
thereof, that Moissan's failure to accom-
pany it to London and the reasons there
of have caused some interesting gossip.
The diamond-maker is young man, as
the ages Of scientists are reckoned, being
only, 80 years. Of age; He was trained in
and was Berthelots favorite pupil. His
aptitude for difficult researches, mis- skill
in manipulation. and his resources when
in difficulty marked him as a chemist who
would be heard from. and the veteran
cYnthesist early took the student under
his wing and made him familiar with all
istry and set him down for future con-
quest.
This work Moissan tok UP with avtdity
upon leaving college and in the laboratory
Of the Ecole Superieure de la Pharmacie,
in whichehe is now the professor IF chem
iStTy, scored a number of triuinphS, which
We're famously capped by the isolation of
iuorine, an element which had never Deen
obtained before that time in a pure state.
So great was this triumph that Prof essor
Dunstan of the Royal society. VINO IS
49, 1ar.ll
proud even of being the first Englishman
" no ever saw fiourlne.
Moissan's flourine process, which was
reported in the usual way reached the
ROYAL society, and a chemical member at
once put it into practice He failed, how
ever, to obtain free fourine and, what
was much. more important; he so nouhed
the value of The discovery. Moissan was
exceedingly wroth at this and after
quoting several other chemists Who had
icourteously suggested that the trouble lay
with the operator. Explanations followed,
but the inventor destined to be appelsed,
and according to his friends, retains the
shadow of his feeling toward the ROYAL
society to this day. Consequently he has
denied himself the pleasure of being
notable lion in the drawingrooms OF Bel
gravia and MAYFAIR in 8 season whose
lion crop is painfully poor the year of
grace 1894, being one of the worst years In
this respect that has been seen for a de-
cade.
! MOISSANS FIRST EXPERIMENTS
TOWARDS DIAMOND MAKING.
The first work of Moissan's which tend
! ed to diamond production began in his
| college days, the synthesis of the ha-
mond having been one Of the problems
marked out by Berthelot, who had uied
many devices without success. Melissa II
made no important advance, however,
| until in strolling through the Paris eXhi-
hition of 1889 he came upon some of the
blue, diamond-bearing clay of South At
| frlca which had been placed on exhibit
| ton by the De Beers company. He OBJ
! tanned some of the clay and made a care
| full examination of it under the micro
scope. He found IN it an indefinite num-
| Der of diamond crystals of microscopic
size. With the trained eye. which he
brought TO bear upon the little page of
natural history before him, he soon saw
| the whole chemical process by which the
earth had silently and secretly manufac-
tured her gems. Carbon exists in three
| forms: charcoal graphite, or the black
| lead of lead pencils, and the diamond.
He found in the clay a mixture of micro
scopic white diamonds, microscopic black
| diamonds and minute fragments of gra-
phite. He then suspected what his later
experiments established, that there IS no
sharp line of distinction between any
two of these three forms, the crystalline
carbon taking on greater and greater de-
grees of hardness, and the graduation be-
| ing imperceptible between graphite
white diamond which stands at 3.5.
A FURNACE THAT HEATS UP TO
6,30Oo
The fundamental necessities in diamond
making, heat and pressure, had long
been known, and Molssan's blue clay
| gave him an indefinite number of details
which served as guides. The first neces-
sity was great heat a much higher de-
gree of heat than had ever been known
before and to obtain this he set to work
upon furnace. Electricity was of
course the only possible source of such
! temperatures as he desired, and electri-
| cal furnaces were not unknown. The
| SPECIAL developments and notifications
of familiar principle which he found
! best suited to his purpose are represented
! in the furnace now here by small and
seemingly solid block of cream-colored
| limestone, from the sides of which two
! carbon electrodes project. The block is a
| foot long, seven inches wide and nine
/ inches high, and is bound with three thin
copper bands, each an inch in width
| about its sides, the bands serving both as
a source of added strength in case of
! cracking, and as an aid IN manipulation.
! When the cover, which is a solid three
| inches thick, is lifted, cup-shaped cav
! ity two inches in diameter and two in
| depth appears in the center. In this cav
| ity the two electrodes, which fit INTO CYL
indrical conduits, nearly meet, and Wien
| they are fed with a current of 600 am
peres and about 60 volts, the arc gives a
temperature of $500 degrees Centigrade,
or $500 Fahrenheit, which is 800 degrees
| Fahrenheit above any working tempera-
| lures hitherto attained. The electrodes
are each twenty inches long and an inch
in diameter The whole apparatus is
| merely the machinery Of an arc light
confined in a block of limestone, instead
of a glass globe, but its compare I've
simplicity and the Quckness and ease
with which it can be used for the reduc>
| ton of refractory chemicals make it the
best of the kind in use. Moissan ner er
put it forward as a novelty in principle,
| but as an important advance in conVen-
fence and results. One difficulty which
interfered greatly with the work os the
| furnace was that of finding any sub
stances which could resist the tremend-
| Gus heat. The best crucible obtained by
| him thus far is made from mixture of
carbon and magnesia, and this forms a
thin black cup fitting closely into the
central cavity.
MOISSAN'S PROCESS
Diamonds in nature are formed by the
capitalization of carbon, usually from
its solution in some molten metal. Two
| important elements in the process are
| enormous pressure, such as was fur
nlshed by the cooling AMI contracting