Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-05-03
GREATEST OF DIAMONDS.
The cullinan Weighs Near Pound
and q HaIf-Worth 5000, 900.

| Greatest OIL I'LL uldHlOluS 10 lhC Sui-
linan," the dazzling wonder taken
from the Premier mine at Pretoria
on january 25, 1905, weighing 3O25a
carats or about 1877 pounds, and
having a value of at least $4,000, 900.
It's precise value cannot be calculated,
so different is the stone from all
others.
Roughly speaking, it measures four
inches by "a inches by 2 inches. 1t
was found by Mr.. Wells, the surface
manager, about Is feet below the lev
ell of the country, his attention being
attracted by a brilliant CLINT Of light
from a projecting point of rock, and
was named the "Callinan" after the
chairman Of the Premier company.
Mr.. Wells was rewarded with $4,000
for the find.
The shipping Of this gem from
South Africa to London was strik-
ing instance of the prosaic methods
Of modern commerce. Sealed In an
ordinary tin box 1t was sent by regis
tered mail, much as a common geo.
logical specimen might be. It's rest
ing place in London Is kept a pro-
found secret, but it Is supposed to be
in a bank on Holborn Viaduct. near
Halton Garden, the haunt Of the dia-
mond dealers.
A number of glass replicas have
been made of it, which are all that
is shown to the ordinary person de-
string to view it. II it Is seen by the
owners that the applicant means bus
mess, however, the insurance COM
pany is notified and a fat premium
paid for the privilege Of taking the
diamond out Of bank vaults. The gem
is insured for s2,500.OO0.
The next largest diamond known,
the Excelsior" was found at Jagers-
fontein in 1898. 1t weighed 972 car
ats The two largest Kimberly dia-
monds were sos and 42S.5 carets, re-
spectively; both larger than the Re
gent" of 410 carats, but smaller
than the "Kohinoor," Of 1913 car
ats, or the "Great Mogul" 1915 car
ats A diamond was found at Kim
berly in 1904, with a small gar
net in it. This stone weighed
ia carats and the garnet was es-
timated to weigh about half carat.
This sort of thing tends to support the
old Indian theory that diamonds grow
like onions, layer by layer, but infin-
itely slower.
Up to 1928 practically all the dia-
monds known came from India, where
they are found in river valley de-
posits, but that year they were found
in Brazil, and since then diamonds
have been discovered in Borneo, New
South Wales, British Guiana, Ural
mountains California and along the
Vaal river in South Africa.
Two theories have been advanced
for the origin of diamonds, and one
of them has been applied so success
fully that diamonds can be manufac-
tured DR.. W. Guyton Atherstone or
Cape Colony has a theory that dia-
monds are substantially crystalized
soda water Carbon, he first points
out, Is not known in the liquid form.
For a substance to crystalize, its mole
cules must be free to move, and the
diamond Is known to be crystalized
carbon, and in burning gives off car
bonic acid gas. The key to the mys-
terry Is the behavior Of liqulfied car
bonic acid gas. which, subjected to
enormous pressure, fulfills all the nee
essary conditions-freedom Of carbon
molecules to move and to crystalize.
1t is practically the only form known
of carbon in a liquid state. Carbon
aceous shale rock generates the gas,
as 1t will with sufficient heat. 1t is
then subjected to enormous pressures
at the bottom of the neck of a VOL
cano and is reduced in consequence
to the liquid form. Then in the long
intermittent periods Of volcanic unac-
tivity the oxygen of the gas is taken
up by the iron or other minerals in
the rock mass, and the carbon crys-
| talizes out.
The other theory, advanced among
| others by Gardner F. Williams of
Kimberly, Is that no volcanic action
or carbonic acid is required, but that
any hydro-carbon that is caught
somehow in rocks far below the sur
face may be liquified and in time crys-
talized into a diamond. He thinks,
however, that the lay of the Kimberly
diamonds indicate that they come to
the surface in a mud volcano.
The gems appear in certain patches
of blue clay, and in nowhere else in
the Kimberly region. These patches
appear to be craters Of extinct VOL
canoes, but of the mild type, emitting
mud only. AS the necks or tubes do
not project above the general sur
face of the country, it is held that the
eruptive matter welled up rather than
"erupted" and overflowed the crater
] edges.-Boston Herald.