New-York tribune., 1900-10-28

to his ideas. Mr.. Morse struggled bravely to es-
tabsh the diamond cutting industry in this country
and his efforts were ably seconded by Isaac Herr
man, of New-York. and several capitalists. The
American Diamond Cutting Company formed
in New-York and began business on a large scale
under Mr. Herrman's management but the Civil
War ruined the enterprise, and 1t abandoned.
Mr.. Herman was a convert to Mr.. Morse's theory
and continued in business in his own name until
about six years ago. Before mis- retirement he had
witnessed the complete triumph of Mr. Morse's re-
form and of seeing its adoption in all the diamond
cutting works in the world
AS result of the beautiful gem making OF Morse
q Herman, the old plan of including even small
and scarcely perceptible flaws In large stones was
abandoned, and smaller gems were produced by so
cleav1ng the faulty stone that the imperfection
was cut out. CleaVing or splitting the diamond
was not original with this pioneer American cut
ter 1t has been practlsed from the earliest times
but deliberately splitting a large stone along the
pane OF small flaw treatment so cou-
rageous that the older cutters were astounded by
IT, They had been taught that weight in a diamond
was the first consideration. and flaw that could be
oetecteo only by an expert was not regarded as
sufficient to justify its division into two or three
gems however beautiful and perfect they might
be. The American cutters completely overthrow
that theory by adherence to the new school OF
perfection and securing the greatest possible brill
fancy The Americans did not hesitate to recut
large stones that had been made ready for the
form thereby somewhat diminishing their weight
but Enthusiastically improving the appearance and
increasing their value. The cIeaving Of diamonds
became higher art than ever, as a result of the
studious endeavor to produce from hawy stone the
largest possible perfect brilliants
The cleaver before he begins work on a stone
carefully studies 1t with a view of ascertaining
what he can get out of 1t without including in it's
product any flaw or speck it may contain. Having
decided how he will split it first he heats over his
spirit lamp his dorp, which is a lump of cement Of
great tenacity In the end of stick which serves as
a handle. When the cement is soft enough the
rough diamond is imbedded in 1t so that only the
face which work is to be done is exposed Close
at hand other dorpS in the cement of which are
set chips and slivers of diamond with sharp points
and edges. With these a shallow incision is
scratched on the stone under treatment in the
line OF the split that is desired. When this has at
tanned a sufficient depth the dorp with the stone
to be split is set solidly into the strong bench,
hard steel bar shaped like a rude razor and ground
to a rounded edge is rested in the incision and a
sharp, light blow on its thicker edge causes the
to part in the desired direction almost as clean
ly If cut. All the abrading is done a little
box in which the dust and small chips collected
and subsequently used in grinding down the facets
and polishing. The grinding and polishing are
done with diamond dust mixed with oil and spread