Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-19
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
MAKING PRECIOUS STONES BY
ARTIFICIAL MEANS.
Gems Produced in the Laboratory-Dif-
hculties Of Producing Crystal
line Structure.

From tae New York Telegraph
1t has long been a favorite object with
chemists and mineralogists to reproduce
mineral substances. and more particularly
gems. by artificial means. Such artificial
gems are of course quite distinct from glass
or paste limitations. What is aimed at ia
the production of the very identical sub
stance. with all its chemical and crystallo-
graphic peculiari,ies II viii be Interesting
10 survey recent progress In this direction
with the two valuable stones.
diamond and ruby are both crys,alIina
SUBSTANCES: that Is to say, their ultimate
particles, or molecules, are arranged I'm a
oehhite and orderly manner The str,,c,ur.
Oh crystal may be compared to that OF a
oo''ahon OF well-drilled soldiers. ths
go .uie OF a non-crystalline suhstance
S 3e, as glass, to that of an irreyrIsr 80
ms crystalline structure "a % o 80.
go scale TO be directly perceyvad
c. WI powerful microscope: bur thera
enc may indirect indications OF Iis pres
go For instance. some CRYSTALS notahI,
,ae diamond. split quite easily and 80,
TO- IN one particular set of directions
ns reminds one of the way I'm which =
ar an on parade may be exactly divided
a. any rate In imaginatio by lines do,
In special directions ~ 'Aes oFaWh
q, - oiusI 10 produce a crystalline struo,urA
stanca .. necessary 10 obtain the SUBJ
tiition si,h oe operated upon In a liquid con-
u,uoi' either melting 1t by hear or dts.a,,.-
n,. II IN some suitable LIQUID Tban ~,
i,,,,is ing the solution and allowing .ba
tuiu 10 cool. crystals separate o,,t ri
To 800 peiIection OF these crystals depend
sIeat extent on how slowly tbay 49,
'epoSiteo- BY slow evaporation a, -
,,ars~ aiuui enormous alum crvstaI. ~,
~ regularity can easily be ohtoI,oI
much Wills er az. substances are, however
HUGH more difficult to deal with e'ef'
Converting Carbon.
'he case Of diamond the prob,er, 4. -
CARBON OF the noncrystaIIi,a Co..,
Wa"poiack' for instance) into thu crv.,aI-
.oiin tdiamondD. No liquid Ia known
or,s,- oissoive carbon as such at the
temperature. and deposit :, a,
proba bjs a. , nor ooes It appear particularly
he ahia at present that chemistry wifi syar
aoie TO furnish such a solvent r Sea
c.rhn,' ever, liquid which Will dissolve
iron ot rs n. o a white heat-nameIy. molten
cation, but. unfortunately rot y. soiioln-
VI diamond. Common CASTRO, s - ~
SaIoon which has separated ont On . o.n,aia
black lead ioih OF graphite or
Mr. Moissan. who was the Gre. ..
.SSu IN producing diamond reNsc,oS 80.
Ga nc f n round at Kimberly evidentIv
that ,baU LIN great depth In the earth and
.nat tney must, therefore. be forr,ad "a . anu
sleat pressure. He determined unoei
- me qualification OF iron ss,nr. 90,
81 .n carbon at a very high temperar,,ra 80 80
been nract; on Sit This would rot have
c,,n,. =, aeticaoie Out for the fortunate c,.
euhstances that iron is one OF tha e., ot
80 rs "hich expand on sohdifcatjon LIZ
p th was to suddenly chin the ou,sd5a ns
When thsn ie the interior remained LIQUID.
soiiSir: men, the Interior did eventNaii,.
sondliy. 1t had no room to eynan uany
pressure. " enormous
hox
Tie courage to seize with the tor. no ut
ie containing molten iron ar Ja..t,n
white neat and to plunge It in cold H-ata,s
fa,r eious explosion might well have been
49, II Is not found. however tbat
tnere is any tendency to this In . ma
.h men the cooling of iron take p,ara ,1ndar
,nese conditions carbon does cryStaI ,,,a o,
iron "I win iobm a or diamond On dissoIvns the
oii WIN aciu. few minute hlacL 40
inonos can be extracted from the resi,,,n
Black Diamonds.
Black diamonds. are. NON. t,o ,.
Auu''i iai Importance as an abrasive
agent. Thus diamond dust ia a.ss,,,., e.
cutting the harder gems eeneraJ,v ana
Larger black diamonds are n,ost ,ao,..
ior drilling holes through hard rocL -,
HiEerai prospecting and in sinking artestar
wells 1t seems not beyond the bounds az
possibility that NJ Moissan's artif,cia, a,,-
monds may be employed eventuaI,v for
s p. purposes as these. though there seems
70 De httle hope of producing large and
ciear stones by such methods. =
Recently c. " Burton OF England has
succeeded In producing small dtamonds hv
Tess heroic method. There are theoreticaI
reasons for thinking that IL the crvstaiiiza'
U ~ t,, carpon could be conducted at COM
paratlveiy low temperature high pressure
might not be essential to the production of
diamond rather than graphite.
AItempts to prepare rubies have been far
nv successful Indeed. some years ago
the market for these stones. especially in
Faris, was very considerably disturbed bv
a large influx of stones of unknown orfoin
ana there Is little doubt that they were
. an.iw py an aruncai process. though ex-
Recently M. Verneun has worked ont a
process for producing rubies, and his nrod
uots rival the best natural stones, though
Under the microscope they can be distin-
t'uished by the presence of minute bubbles.
The Ruby.
Ruby is chemically composed of aIunina.
or oxide of aluminium, together with a
minute proportion of chromium. which gives
the Characteristic color. The problem to
be faced in making artificial rubies ia to
melt such a mixture and allow 1t to solidify
into crystal free from flaws and large
bubbles To melt It in any ordinary way,
as. for instance. by directing an oxyhydro-
gen blowpipe on to lump of the material.
Is quite useless. since an opaque mass full
of cracks is all that results.
NJ. Verneuil has found, however. that IL
the mass Is gradually built UP by the sue
cessive addition of powdered material, while
1t Is kept melted by the blowpipe fame q
large and transparent crystal can be OBJ
tanned. He ingeniously effects this by max
ing the gases Of the blowpipe convey this
powder on to the mass while they keep II
hot. The blowpipe Is directed downward
and the current Of powder Is fed into 1t
through a concentric tube. which Is continu-
ally tapped. so as to insure a constant sup
ply.
In a few hours a fine ruby is obtained
often a quarter inch in diameter. and only
distinguishable from the natural stone I'M
split into two parts. but after that has hap
pened they do not show any tendency to
break into smaller pieces and are perfectly