Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1895-02-06
ARTIFICIAL DIAMONDS.
They VIII he I'm the Market with
Other Fabricated Gems.
frranscrlnt.s washlnrinn Iel,er1

transcripts Washington letter.
Before long diamonds OF market
able size will be produced by artI-
fee" said Professor =. W. Clarke. the
famous chemist Of the Geological Survey.
yesterday. II think that the prediction
is a fairly safe one Already we know
how TO make them. though only very
small ones. Moissan. I'm Paris, has manu-
featured diamonds by melting wrought
iron together with carbon and permitting
the mixture to cool very slowly. Under
these conditions the carbon became crys-
tallized. simultaneously. Kroustchon. ia
St. Petersburg. has got diamond crystals
by similar process. employing silver
instead OF iron.
These artificial diamonds are scarcely
big enough to be seen With the naked
eye. but they represent the solution OF
the problem OF crystallizing carbon. 50
much being accomplished, II may be con-
fdently expected that crystals Of greater
size will soon be produced. IL has been
argued that in the laboratory the pro-
cesses OF nature can only be initiated on
a contemplate scale. but you must re-
member that crystals OF carbon need not
be very big in order 10 possess value as
gems. Furthermore. chemists have
already succeeded In making very large
crystals OF n great variety OF substances.
some OF them Weighing as much as a
pound.
1t is easy to find out what any kind
Of precious stone is made OF by the
ordinary processes OF analysis. The prob.
lem then is merely 10 take the elements
thus ascertained and put them together
In the proper crystalline form. initiating
the methods OF nature. How are dia-
monds formed in naturer Nobody knows
with certainty. but a shrewd guess at Il
has been made. The greatest existing
diamond field Is In South Africa There
eruptive matter from deep In the earth
seems to have burst out through "A sur
face layer Of shale the latter being very
rich In carbon. Slow cooling followed.
and the carbon was crystallized out, az in
the experiments Of Moissan ana Kroust-
choff.
"Rubies are now made by artince.
They are just as handsome as genuine
ones, and. II il comes TO that IL can
hardly be said that they are not genu.
inc, inasmuch as they are Of the same
material. The only difficulty In the way
Of their manufacture for market is that
people DO not want them. regarding
them az counterfeit On that account
jewellers will not sell them. for they can
be distinguished as artificial by the mi
croscope. Much has been said about the
bubbles which they contain, but tho
bubbles are microscopic and do not in
terfere with the beauty OF the gem II
il almost impossible to get a real ruby
that has no flaw I'm A.
"Of course. you arc aware that ruble,
are to-day the most valuable 81 all pre-
cious stones, far exceeding the diamond.
\ gem "a big az n pea, Of the first quail,
~ and of the true pigeon-blo0d color,
will bring $1,000 Rubies are crystalllzed
corundum, which Is oxide OF aluminium.
Sapphires are Of the same material.
They also are initiated with success in
the laboratory. The process most com,
monty employed I'm the manufacture OF
rubies is 10 fuse together small ruby
sparks which are cheap enough. by
means OF electricity. This work with
rubies and sapphires has been done by
Frenzy and Fell In Paris"