The Red Cloud chief., 1909-03-25
MANUFACTURED cSfPPH[RES

Is 1t nature taking when a man
learns natures secrets and beats her
at her own game? That is u question
which we have not time TO debate
here. and 1t Is not altogether mate
rial, either, for the story we have to
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
a fact, however, that another French
man, this time a young engineer
named Louis Paris, has achieved the
alchemical feat OF making q sapphire
which every test of the sap.
phire OF nature. Practically 1t Is Il
real sapphire, and that Is what IL 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.
If any person desires to duplicate
the feat he may be told that all that
Is required Is a 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 1t, to obtain
the kind of results which crown NJ.
Paris efforts, but that is a mere de,
tail.
M. Paris is a very retiring and mod
est ~discoverer, and the first inkline
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 a communication
from him was read. An enterprislnl
Paris journal sought him out, ant
both correspondent and Photographic
worked on the subject until the,
wrested from the inventor the metho(
of his twentieth century alchemy.
1t Is probable that NJ. Paris had hi
attention directed to the manufactur,
of precious stones from the growing
demand among engineers for som
cheap substitute for the diamond II
drilling, 1t was found when work Of
the Metropolitan Underground Raj
way In Paris was begun hat in Gel
tain parts OF the line. lear the Seine
there was a subsoil so soft and ooz
that II seemed that nothing would cor
trol 1t while the tube was being ru
through II.
An ingenious engineer suggeste
that II the Q%uicksands could be froze
they might be rendered almost as har
as rock, and while in this conditio
they might be bored with a damon
drill. The merest tyre In the jewelr
trade knows that, although there al
cheap diamonds. It would require
small fortune to provide them in su
ficient quantities to enable them to b
used extensively In boring works. TIL
necessity of a hard drill In this wor
is due to the fact that II is essenti,
that the boring proceed quickly Il
the reason that hardness of the so
is obtained by artificial temperature
in itself a costly operation. With II
production OF artificial %sapphires, II
claimed, a new substitute is at han
for the expensive diamond dust. TT
new stones also permit OF larger drill
and consequently greater expedite
In forcing the borings.
Minute diamonds have before tn
been produced in laboratory espel
ments. but In nc In con sl6rct