Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1897-02-05
DIAMONDS BY ELECTRICITY.
A Washington Scientist VIII Utilize
Niagara Falls for Crystallizing.

n
Niagara Falls for Crystallizing.
While it has been possible for soma
Years to make diamonds by using car
bon, those made have been toe small to
t>e of any commercial value. Yet 1t Is
n,w asserted ny scientist Of Wash
ington that he has devised plan by
which the precious stone can be made
and of any size wished. To turn base
mtals into gold was the work OF a
chemist who holds the wealth OF the
earth seemingly in his grasp, but to
fashion diamonds is to hold the worlds
most valuable thing really within the
hollow of his hand. And the riches OF
Midas, the wealth of the crowned heads
of the mightiest empires OF old Will
pale into insignificance before the one
who could command such a fabulous
mine of gems. The diamonds as pre-
viously made were fused by using i'm
pure carbon, that Of commerce, such
as willow charcoal. The gentleman
who proposed to make the gems of val
ue, DR.. B. H. tombstone, of Washing
ton, discards such old-fashioned meth
DDS, and will use only the element
provided by nature-that is, the pure
carbon found in mines all over the
country. Real diamonds, that is, those
dug in their natural state, are merely
the crystallization of this pure carbon,
made by process which is supposed to
have occupied many millions of years.
The impure carbon of commerce will
not make diamonds of any size and
value; that fact has been abundantly
proven. But DR.. tombstone, adopting
natures method, proposes to turn out
stones which will vie in purity and
beauty with those of the fields Of South
Africa and which will compare in size
with the famous gems which glow in
the crowns of emperors. For this pur-
pose he intends at an early date to
go to Niagara Falls and furnish there
laboratory in which he can utilize
the immense electric current given by
the water power. He will require at
least six thousand volts Of electricity
to crystalline the carbon, and that is
power not easily gotten anywhere ex-
cept at Niagara. The pure carbon he
finds in the coal and other mines about
the country, for it exists in large guam
titles and can be purchased cheaply.
With this carbon and this immense
power of electricity at his hand DR..
tombstone states that he can so crys-
tallize the first that he can turn out
within few days stone that nature
could not fashion in millions of years.
The diamonds which will come from
this laboratory will be of great size,
for the doctor expects to make them
from the size of a pea to the bigness
of the great Kohinoor, the most famous
gem in the world. AS the value in
creases with the increase in size, the
fortune which lies in the grasp of the
maker of such gems is more easily i'm
agined than counted. Ten such dia-
monds as the Kohinoor would make an
immense fortune for any man, and to
be able to turn them out at pleasure
is thing almost beyond the belief Of
the human mind. The doctor does not
propose to make gems by the whole
sale. That plan would overstock the
market and bring down the price of
the gem instantly. He intends to make
fine, large stones and dispose of them
one at a time, so that the market and
price will continue as now.