The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-08-02
THE DIAMONDS ORIGIN.
Although Found in Clay. II Is Forn-
ed in BOUidcrS ana Scattered by
NOICnuoCs

Volcanoes.
From the London standard.
The dispute among biologists as to the
origin of the diamond seems to have been
settled by Prof Bonney in paper read
recently before the Royal Society In
the localities from which the previous
supply has been drawn. both in India and
in Brazil, the gem occurred like a pebble,
in cortuin gravely materials, but had not
been traced back to any rock that gave an
indication of It's genesis. But soon after
the discovery of diamonds in river sands
on the orange ana Naal rivers, in South
Africa, obey were found Ia peculiar ma
terial not of a superficial character. At
first extremely incoherent and OF
hrowuish buff color, it assumed, as the
miners dug deeper, dun, dark greepish
or blush tint. and became harder. In
this stuff, which they called yellow
ground" aud 'bluo ground" according TO
Its color lay the diamonds, together with
several Other minerals, such as garnet.
various iron ores. Divine. aug.te, and its
allies, Digging was begun nearly thirty
years ago, at first unsystemaueally; but
from these carly efforts the great diamond
mining industry has been developed, aud
the excavations have been carried near
Kimberley % Il depth of more than four
teen hundred feet. Here the rock has be-
come so much more SOLID that 1t is at first
about as hard as ordinary limestone.
The "blue ground" is only found in linn
tied areas, generally rather circular in
outline, which are spotted" irregularly
over the country, some of the most fam
Gus, which are several acres in extent,
being in the immediate nelghborhood of
Kimberley. The rocks around them arc
OF dark shades, banded with hard sand
stones, ia VIII ch sheets or bikes Of basait
or some material once molten are oeca-
sionaly found. The blue ground Ills a
sort of huge shaft la these other rocks
and is itself sometimes cut by similar
bikes. Thus it reminded biologists of the
necks Of extinct volcanoes, such as may
be seen among the coal-hearlug strata of
the Fifcshire coast That the diamond
was an inmate of the blue ground could
not be doubled; but how did il get there.
and what was the true nature Of the
rock? on this point biologists adopted air
ferent views, some thinking that the gem
had been produced where IL now lay;
others that il has been formed ia some
Older rock which had been shattered by
volcanic explosions. Many of the MINER
ais associated with It looked as 81 they
had been thus derived, and IT was some,
times broken. The blue ground frequent
ly contained fragments Of the adjacou,
country rock" shut this did not quito
c.eai up the mystery, for sometimes q
molten material, in breaking through other
rocks catches up bits of them. and. what
ever was the origin of the marix a. IL
is rather porous, the diamond might have
been subsequently produced In It by such
an agent as hot water This mystery has
now been cleared up by a d scovery at the
Newlands mines West Grqualand, rather
more than forty miles from Kimberley
About Two years ago M, Tfubsn bach, the
company manager. accidentally picked up
a specimen in which small diamonds were
apparently imbeddod in garnet. His Gu
riosity once aroused, everything remark
able was collected. and among these things
certain boulders containing garnets which
now ana then occurred in the blue" even
200 or 300 feet under ground Afterward
one of these was found to show a diamond
projecting from the surface. The bould-
er was broken and was found 10 contain
others. Afterward a diamond was seen
on a second specimen. The rock is one
which, though not very common Is well
known to geoiogists. II bears in science
the name Of eclogte, and that from New
lands consists almost exclusively of a red
garnet and rather peculiar light green
augite. The rock is coarsely crystalline
and was once, no doubt like granite. in
molten condition. the diamond being one
of its Original constituents. But this dis
covcry also eettcs the true nature Of The
blue ground" and that IL was not the
birthplace Of the diamond. These bOulders
are evidently waterworn and must have
been fashioned In a past geological period
from some much more ancient rock, now
buried out Of sight They must have re-
posed for aEes IN an ancient gravel a / the
very bottom Of the sedlmentary rocks Of
the dstrict-rocks which are about as Old
as the red nlarlg of the English Mdlands.
Eventually the everything materials and
some OF the shattered rock floor, in which
the diamonds are imbedded, and of whTcf
these boulders are only samples, were sent
flying by volcanic explosions. 1t was IN
this way that the diamond bearing blue
ground" was formed
-s-ep-s--
Advice" said Uncle Eben is hahd
10 manage. II you gives It away you
doesn git no benefit an II you sells It
you's gwineter Spite de quality tryin to