Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1901-10-09
NATURES MISTAKES.
SOME THAT MEN CONSIDER TO BE or
REMARKABLE VALUE.


Paradoxical rs II Mny Apoer-. the
Perfection of a Precious Stone IL
LA.'Eely Due to Some Imperfection
In Its Making by Nature.
Paradoxical as 1t may appear, tie
perfection of gem is largely due to
some imperfection in its make. Some
little mistake made In the laboratory Of
nature produces defective stone
which Is perfection itself from the lai,-
idary's point of view Ninety-nine out
OF every hundred emcralds dug from
the mine are almost white and of little
value, but the humid edith one is OF
rich velvety green and, if without 9th
err flaws than its color, sells for $500 a
carat or 240 times as much as its col
orless brother. The reason Of the rich
color which gives the cnloiald its value
is hat nature, in making the stone, put
in too much oxide of chromium, just IS
the cook sometimes gets too much sal
eratus in the biscuits. The standard &C
perfection in the laboratory of nature
is the colorless emerald, and her deep
green ones are some of Aer failures;
failures which, nevertheless, delight
mankind however much tLey may dis
gust nature. You could bdy ton OF
oxide Of chromium for the price which
half grain of it gives to cheap and
common crystal.
When nature makes mistakes in man.
ufacturing diamonds, the results a!a
equally remarkable. Her stands: i for
diamond is pure white stone. b 4
sometimes foreign substance gets ir %
the crucible, and the result is Il rcd or
blue diamond. 4 fine white brilliant ct
one carat can be bought for S12o, but
blue stone of that size would be cheap
at $500. 4 red diamond is Of even
greater value, a red stone of fifteen
grains having been sold for $1,000. Yet
the little particle of foreign material
which nature carelesSly let fall into the
mixture when she was making that
stone down in the heart Of some prime
val volcano is of less value than a
grain of common salt and only got
there by mistake
Nature manufactures in her lah )rato-
nv material called spinel You can
buy a block of sp4nel us large as you
can carry for few dollars s5ometlmfs
In making spinel small quantities or
chronic acid get into the material and
color it deep red. The pieces 50 col
ored nature rejects as spoiled II the
making and throws them in the dust
bin, from which men dig them OFT and
call them rubies. A ruby Of thillT-tWo
carats recently sold for $4,000. Yet
the material Of the cheap spinel and
the valuable ruby are practically the
same, save for that small fraction OF
chronic acid which got into Tho ruby
by mistake.
When nature starts out to manufae-
ture opals, she endeavOrs to make them
without any cracks in them. In THIS
she seldom succeeds, coming near st to
perfection in the Mexican opals, n v
have few cracks in them and tn u
little luster. The fiery glow of the or
entail opal and the play Of light in i..4
depths Of that exquisite stone ere due
entirely to the numberlesS cracks
which seam the surface of the gem. 1t
must give nature a poor opinion CT
mankind when she secs him selling the
Mexican opa.s, which are nearly per-
feet, for IL cents carat and paying
sos a carat for her failures, tile cracked
fire opal Of the east.
Not only in gems. but In many other
things, does nature make mistakes ana
failures, the results of which are high
ly valued by man. The chank shell,
shell much Ike the conch shell of lese
shores is one of the comnonest slells
on the beaches of India. and II lions
of them are gathered and burned for
the lime that is in them. Yet III tenn
shells Which hold the place of bcnot In
a shrine covered with gold. and no
amount Of money could buy th"m ( ON
their guardian priests. Their value
consists in the fact that nature Was not
quite herself the morning she fabricat-
ed these shells AID gave Il right hand
ed twist to them instead Of Il lett hand
ed one, such as has been given to all
otLer chank shells, so far as man
knows. since the beginning
Baron Eothschild once paid $500
dozen for some Schoss Johannesburg
wine, aud ii is Admitted that. king
everything into consideration. it WAS
not an excrbitant price. Yet the vine
of the same year from the vineya d di-
rectly adjoining the Johannislers vine
yard. on the same bank Of the Ri ne,
a vineyard whose soil Is, to all app, ar
ances, the same, only brought So &
dozen. And there is no special secret
about the manufacture of JohannSbers
wine or about the variety Of grape
used. Its great value comes from a
little joke of nature. In the SOL Of
the Joha rnsberg vineyard there Is I'm
infinitesimal amount of certain salt
which is found in the soil of no other
vineyard. The admXture is so sight