The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1909-05-24

Is 1t nature taking when maj
learns natures secrets and beats hel
at her own game? That is question
which we have not time to debate
here, and it is not altogether mate
rial either, for the story we have tc
tell is not based upon conjecture, but
fact. Sapphires, real precious stones
are now being made and can be pro-
duced to sell at a profit for "a francs
a carat; or say about $4.75. More than
that, the method is comparatively
rapid.
After the exposure of the wonder
full and mysterious methods of manu-
featuring diamonds by a Frenchman
last summer, new announcements OF
the fabrication of precious stones are
now received with due restraint on
the natural enthusiasm. 1t remains
fact, however, that another French
man, this time a young engineer
named Louis Paris, has achieved the
alchsmical feat of making a sapphire
which answers every test of the sap.
phire OF nature. Practically it is a
real sapphire, and that is what it is
called.
The secret of the manufacture, of
course, lies in the quantity of mate
rial used to produce the result, con-
sequently, the discoverer has not hes
itated to take into his laboratory in
quisitive visitors, and show them the
entire process, and also to tell them
just what the material used con-
sists Of
II any person desires to duplicate
the feat he may be told that all that
Is required is quantity of clay and
an oxide colorant. Then, too, he will
require an apparatus, of which the
main feature is an oxy-hydrogen blow
pipe, and the necessary cylinders of
gas to feed the latter 1t is very neces-
sary to know how to do it, to obtain
the kind of results which crown M.
Paris efforts, but that is a mere de-
tail.
M. Paris Is very retiring and mod
est discoverer, and the first inkling
the world, that is to say, the scientific
world, had of his wonderful discovery
was the announcement made at a re-
cent meeting of the Academy of Sci
ence at Paris, when communication
from him was read. An enterprising
Paris journal sought him out, and
both correspondent and photographer
worked on the subject until they
wrested from the inventor the method
of his twentieth century alchemy.
1t is probable that M. Paris had his
attention directed to the manufacture
of precious stones from the growing
demand among engineers for some
cheap substitute for the diamond in
drilling. 1t was found when work on
the Metropolitan Underground Rail-
way in Paris was begun that in GER
tain parts Of the line, near the Seine,
there was a subsoil so soft and oozy
that 1t seemed that nothing would con-
troll it while the tube was being run
through it.
An ingenious engineer suggested
that II the quicksands could be frozen
they might be rendered almost as hard
as rock, and while in this condition
they might be bored with a diamond
drill. The merest tyro in the jewelry
trade knows that, although there are
cheap diamonds, 1t would require
small fortune to provide them In suf-
acient quantities to enable them to be
used extensively in boring works. The
necessity of hard drill in this work
Is due to the fact that It is essential
that the boring proceed quickly for
the reason that hardness of the soil
is obtained by artificial temperatures,
In itself costly operation. With the
production of artificial sapphires, 1t is
claimed, new substitute Is at hand
for the expensive diamond dust. The
new stones also permit of larger drills
and consequently greater expedition
In forcing the borings.
Minute diamonds have before this
been produced in laboratory expert
ments. but in no sense in commercial