The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1896-12-27
HARvARD's { =



me Ninety Carat Diamond coaid Srs lie
BomRhf Tor 100000.
Many gems in the Mineralogical
museum OF Harvard university are
tempting to the light fingered prcfes-
sion, particularly the great Garland
diamond. This il a magnificent yei-
low stone from the Kimberley mines
i'm South Africa, and is natural
crystal i'm the form of perfect c.
tahedron, the finest crystal of this
form in the world. It cost SO. 000
Then there are tourmalines in every
shade and form of that handsome
American gem, some of which, when
cut as brilIiants of two or three
oarats, would sell for $50 or $40. In
various cases are all the other sorts of
precious stones-huge crystals and
masses of topaz, pieces of opal or
6 inches in diameter, beryl, jasper,
chalcedony, catseye, onyx and car
nelian. Case No /, down in one cor
ner of the exhibition room, contains
a collection the great value of which
o glance will indicate. It il filed
with gold and silver, gold in mug.
gets, in quartz, in crystals, in grains,
in fattened masses from placer
mines-gold from everywhere and
silver in all its native forms, from
both the old world and the new.
All these things are treasures in
the eyes of a would be thief, for
their intrinsic value is enormous.
But they are worth still more to the
museum. In estimating the worth
of collection of this sort two other
values must be considered besides
that of the open market-namely,
the scientific and the pseudo scien-
tif1c.''
There is q class of collectors of
minerals who work scientifically,
but there is a still larger class who
do not. These latter people, how
ever, pay large prices for rare miner
ais, and thus create larger values
than the market price. But the scien-
tific value of these specimens, which
cannot be duplicated, goes higher
yet. For instance, the great Garland
diamond, which weighs nearly 80
carats, would cut into a gem of 65
or perhaps 20 carats, and it would
then be worth about 50, 600. But ii
cost SO, GOO, the pseudo scientific y
value To Harvard university, how
ever, this stone, as natural dia-
mond crystal, is of indispensable
value; 800, 600 would not buy it.
When Harvard's collection was
small and was kept in few rooms
in Boylston hall, the chemical labor.
atory, the university kept no guard
upon it. As a consequence a thie1
broke into case one day. pocketed
q golden nugget which hs coveted
and made good his escape. But
alas, mot all is gold that glitters,
for when he had reached a place oi
safety and examined his prize be
found that he had stolen only gild
ed cast and had left untouched
smaller but genuine nuggets thai
had lain beside it. Now tha= the
meteorological department has q
building of its own, comprising one
section of the large University mu
scum, and has so many valuable
things that might be stolen, it keep:
a constant guard But single po
liceman ON duty in the exhibition
room. or even the two that are there
Sundays, seem insufficient protec
tion when so much can be carried
away in the shape of a single dia
mond. Four men could overpowel
them, and all the gems in the mu
scum would be at their disposal
But nothing like this will ever hap
pen, for there is complete electril
system, which will subtly and swift
ly report any attempt at robbery
Boston Transcript.