The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-08-01

New York. Aug. L-Rubies. beautiful In
color and rlvailng nature precious stones.
are to-day easily produced from the chem
lst cructhle. Wealthy members OF New
lork's smart set. travelling ah.oad have
believing them to be genuine.
George +. kunz Of Tiffany's. the famous
expert, has stamped more than n dozen
supposed choice gems submitted to him ar
tificial." and in some instances the victims
recovered their money.
The magic OF the chemists laboratory by
which these pretty gems are produced was
for years preserved BY the French Academy
Of Science. Workmen. tempted by fabulous
laboratories in France. and particularly in
Geneva, ruhies are. to-day being manu-
factured in Wholesale lots and exported to
ali parts of the world. Only the keen-eyed
expert, with the aid of a powerful micro
scope, is able to pick out the artificial from
the genuine
of dollars worth of precious stones. is re-
luctant to admit that the manufactured
natures specimens: He says the most fin
ished products of the crucible at the present
time rival If they do not surpass. in purity
and color, the lower grades of natural
stones. II not sold as real stones the man
ufactured stone costs but one-tenth the
SOLD BY GENEVA FIRM.
Some years ago" said Expert Kunz, the
Syndicate des Diamants ct Pierres Pre-
cieuses OF France was informed that certain
stones which had been sold as rubies We're
were put upon the market by a Geneva
firm. and IT was surmised they We're OBJ
tanned by n fusion of a number of smaller
rubies. worth at the most a few dollars a
karat, into one fine gem worth from Sl,5J,
to $500 a karat.
AT the time Messrs Tiffany purcha sed
some artificial stones for examination. but
l did not break them for analysis to
observe the cleavage or cut them TO observe
the optical axes more correctly. With a
pocket lens could readily detect the Grti-
fetal nature Of the stones as the whole
structure was Peculiar to that of fused
masses. Since that time the manufacture
OF the stones has greatly increased and
large quantities are sold in the different
countries of the world
THE principal distinguishing Characters
tic between the artificial and natural rubie5
Is the presence In the artificial stones of
large numbers of spherical BUBBLES, rarely
pear shaped sometimes containing stringy
portions showing how the bubbles have
moved. These bubbles all have rounded
ends and present the same appearance as
those seen in glass or other fused mixtures
They are nearly always in wavy groups or
cloudy masses. When examined individually
they always seem to be filed with gas or
air. and often form part OF Il cloud.
Some artificial stones I have examined
have inner bubbles apparently double cavi-
ties. hut empty. In natural stones the cav
usually filed with some liquid. or. If they
form part of feather" as jewelers. ex-
press IT: they are often arranged with the
appearance between the cavities in the nat
urai gem and those in the fused gem is
very great. 1 have failed to find in any Of
the artificial stones even a trace of any
thing like a crystalline angular cavity.
FOUND IN REAL RURIES.
Another distinguishing characteristic IS
that in many OF the genuine rubies We find
n silky structure called silk by the jewel
ersI. which when examined under the mi
crOscope is found to be n series of cunei-
form crystals, often irridescent. and ar
ranged parallel with the heXogonal layers
of the crystal. Artificial ana natural stones
vary but slightly in specific gravity. hard
ness and brittleness. None of the artificial
rubies are fine as a pure natural stone.
but many of the former are oftentmes
much better than an inferior grade of stone.
THE artificial ruby Is manufactured bT
fusing an illuminate OF lead in connection
with silicate in n silceous crucible. the
silica uniting with the lead to form lead
glass and liherating the aluInina. which
crystalizes out in the form of coTundum in
heXag0nal plates. with n specific gravity of
i0I to IL and the hardness and color of
the natural ruby. The color is produced
by the addition of chromium salt. The ele
merts used are those which make UP the
true ruby. and the stones are really tri-
umphs of modern science in chemistry"
promises soon to make the real and artificial
a subject for energetic study by experts is
the art of manufacturing fish skin pearls.
Paris chemists have just perfected secret
fish skin solution into which glass balls
filled with wax are dipped by skilled young
women until an artificial pearl. with all
the luster of the perfect natural stone re-
suits. Several of these stones We're yester-
day received by Maiden lane jeweler