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

and the artificial diamond had been OBJ
great sensation. He was the chemical
hero of the hour, and his confreres OF the
Academy, with Berthelot at their head,
were as unanimous as they We're entnus-
iastic in recognizing his wonderful sue
cess.
THE FULL SIGNIFICANCE OF MOIS-
SANS ACHIEVEMENT.
The making of such diamonds as Mols-
san had obtained was a very different
thing, however, from the making. OF dJa-
monds of commercial size and value. The
nam difficulty had been overc ome, but
the subsidiary difficulties We're sti.l very
considerable, and for q year past Motssa n
has been attacking them with undimln-
ished energy, producing diamonds of
larger and larger size and more and
more perfect limpidity. The stones are
very small, however, and it cannot yet be
said that his diamonds or his diamond
process will Immediately affect the dia-
mond market beyond the influence they
have exerted and are increasingly exert
ing upon the prestige of 6. stone which
has no intrinsic value and is esteemed
only because of its rarity.
Comparing MoiSSan'S process, however,
with that of Frenzy, and the advance
which ruby making made between lsi.
and 1886, it would be rash to deny that
diamonds made direct from charcoal VIII,
sooner or later, exercise a very important
influence upon an industry already scme-
combination is strictly limiting its out
put in order to sustain the market,
jewel trade circular of tins montn on
nounoces that very few fine diamonds
are being sold the bulk of the existing
traffic being cheap stones bought by me
lower middle class of the community;
These are precisely the stones Whlch VIII
first be furnished artiacIally, just us Inc
first artificial rubies were used for level
Ing watches
Another important element in Mois-
sans process is it's simplicity, and the
fact that diamond making or attempts
at 1t are within the reach of any chemist,
professional or amateur, who can COM
mand certain amount of electric ener-
gy, iron and charcoal. This will Infalli-
bly, lead to any number of diamond max
brains at work upon the remaining prob
lens of manipulation and cooling, the
end is not difficult to foresee.
MOISSAN'S PRESENT AIMS AND
HOPES.
Moissan's work during the past year
has been varied and, as detailed in his
own words, is most ingenious. he IDEAL
point aimed at by his method is to Sclid-
ify the molten iron slowly in the shape
of sphere, to the center of which the
forced and compressed. If ever this end
be reached, as there is no reason to
doubt that it will be, and if diamonds re-
tain their value, pure gems of the size CT
mond will be found inside of iron balls,
and will attain dimensions that from the
standpoint of preciousness will De some
what absurd. AT any rate he believes, as
does Professor Dunstan also, that ola
monds of any reasonable size will in the
course of time easily result from the
present process.
A SIMPLER PROCESS IN PROSPECT
THOUGH.
It is possible however, that his dia-
] I "A
eve14 simpler turn. Carbon, which IN con-
ductivity and some other qualities is
unique among the elements, has the
property of passing at once from the sol
liquid form it must first be gastified by
heat and then submitted to pressure,
which reduces it to liquid. AS tar as
the necessary heat is concerned, he al
ready has it at command and by means
of his furnace has not only volaulized
carbon but has superheated the carhon
vSpor To compress a vapor at $500
Fahrenheit is not an easy matter, but 1t
the combination of high pressure and
high temperature in the attempts of his
predecessors in diamond making otfer
valuable suggestions. He hopes that by
cooling pure liquid carbon, the elerhent
may be crystallized out directly III the
form of diamonds, and this anticipation
is strengthened by certain mysterious
and chemically inexplicable differences
fectly pure stones exhibit wide crystal
line variations, indicating substantial DIFF
fererces among the conditions under
which they were formed. The wide dis
tinctions IN color among even pure dla--
monds, the differences in limpiGity and
the extent to which they eat ligh:' an; snd
emit are partly due to variations III den
sity. which may have 'ome not only
from variations in pressure but in c1Ys-
talliza ton from solution as against crys-
utilization from the liquid form. All the
shades of diamonds from BLACK to white,
inc1uding the light and dark browrs are
evidently due, judging from Molssans re re-
suits, to different degrees of compression.
There are foreign color shades, however,
whose causes are not so clearly evident'
and the means by which they became in
corporated with the crystaI-t;ei c"roon'
as we'll as the formative state Of the lat
ter. can only be conjectured. the elea ar
fact Is, however, that diamond Faf ling
infancy, and that its inevitable advance;
an advance which will only be limi t:a, j
commercially by lessening values, syn
thetic chemistry, in this age of progress,
will sooner or later finally destroy the
long cherished value of the king Of pre-
cious stones. h. j. w. LAM.