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

nevertheless bought one in this instance
which turned out to be synthetic. With
diamonds made from sugar, rubieS, zap
phires and emeraldS from ordinary clay,
and pearls from chalk, the social world
has had very interesting subject for dis
cussion. The POLITICALLY inclined have
found a fruitful theme upon which to de-
nounee the iconoclastic advances of ma
terialistic science and the loss of the po-
etry, mystery and fascination of precious
stones, which attributes must inevitably
disappear in the presence of crucihles,
chemicals and commercial deceptions. On
the other hand, those minds which are
criefv interested in foTeca sting the So
cial future, declare the wearing of all
fragments of rock g. weakness unworshy
Of high civilization, a weakness which
cannot too soon, for our credit, be aban-
dcned entirely to the nose-piercing and
ear-boring savage in the dress para1es of
Ethiopia.
CONNECTION IN THE GEM MARKET,
Artificial rubies have already reached a
stage of successful manufacture, which
causes these gems to be considered with
caution in the trade Artificial saphhires
and emeralds Of any size are less common,
because natural stones of these kinds are
less valuable, and the reward for their
successful creation is not so great The
synthetic pearl is being so steadily per-
fected in the lahora tories of France, Ger
many and Switzerland. that before long
the ordinary buyer will have % trust en-
tirely to the integrity Of the ieweler since
he viii be totally unable to distinguish the
chemical from the natural Sem. Last Of
all. the diamond, after battling chemists
for centuries has Succumbed to the per
SiStent efforts OF q clever young French
man, for the reports which came from
Paris last wear are all true. and the Nois-
san artificial diamonds are pure. limpid
and unmistakable stones of their lind.
The Bond street jewelers. have had many
cueStiors to answer in The last two weeks
from anxious clients, who are under the
impression that diamonds are already be
ing manufactured as easily as optical
clio al ea.ad
titles to suit the newest millionaire. This
Is IN no sense true, though there is no
means OF telling how soon it may be
has been done, and the time has now come
for Improvements and subsidiary inven-
tions so that the future of diamond max
ing as an art and as an industry can only
be inferred from the analogous advance
in ruby making from the first creation of
the artificial ruby.
GROWTH or THE ARTIFICIAL RUBY
INDUSTRY.
The first artificial yubies-yand 1t should
with the actual stones. and not with faced
gems, doubletS or Dastes-were success
fully made by chemical processes as long
ago as 1S47. RubieS, sapphires and en-
The same chemical compound corundnm:
8rd corundnm IS the oxide Of alumina,
earth as an important constituent of or
dirary clay. Like the artificial diamonds
Of foday the first chemical rubiss were
very small and commercially Insignificant,
lasting from 1S4T to 1877, failed to increase
80 any appreciate degree the size of the
cal processes between the wears named
were found by which chem SITS could OBJ
tain and crystalize corundum into pure
rubias, and these included in their 1cope
uInina could be reduced and ali the rea-
gents could be used to this end. Various
pressures were tried including the use OF
euper-heated steam at various stages OF
expansion. and the Temperature employed
v;iried from 1902 to COO centigrade. Nc
yraTked advance was recorded however
until in 1871 Messrs. Frenzy and Fell. two
eminent French chemists. heated alumni
ate Of lead with silica, and obtained sill
cate of lead and free aluminium in cryS.
talline form. This process gave them ru-
cies in quantity and Of promising size
Not long afterward frenzy, who is the
father Of the artificial ruby Of TODAY,
obtained even better results by treating
arnorphous alunina with barium flouride
at a. red heat and by this discovery Sc;
artificial ruby-malking fairly upon its feet
"A SUSPICIOUS ABUNDANCE OF GOOD
RUBIES.
From 1877 onward nothing was heard for
many years of the Frenzy process. The
Invention was taken over bv q commercial
organization: and the work was being
done and the results which were being
obtained were kept strictly secret. The
attempts had. in fact, been entirely for
gotten in trade circles, when, IN 1886, the
large number of fine T5pies which We're
being sold by a single firm in Geneva, be
gan 20 create surprise. No fault whatever
could DE found with the gems, which in
hardness, lustre and glow were excellent
"A comparison Of the output from the ruby
mines with the number. Of stones which
fhe firm was selling showed, however
that there was uaquestionably something
wrong somewhere. AT the instance OF
several large dealers. the Syndicate DIES
claimants of Paris took the matter up and
had some Of the stones closely examined
The result caused a sensation The rubieS
were artificial. and the chemists of the
Syndicate expressed the belief in their re-
,crt that they mad been obtained by melt
Ing large numbers OF small rubies and re-
crystalizing the mass into large stones
This view would have been adopted tut
for the action of AIessrs. Tiffany & Co.
who were among the dealers whose fingers
perc had been burned in the transactions.
An investigation by their expert. Professor
Izunz. showed beyond question that the
1-rbfes were entirely artificial and had
been made bv the Frenzy process. Pref
1<unz's method of detecting them and dis
ss-,y7l'shinr them from natural rubies was
the use Of a microscope Of high power
which revealed certain minute cavities OF