Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1911-11-13
THE JEWELS
A Story Of 1880
By MARCO L. BRAYTON
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation. 1871.

all this? Mother has often said that
before you and she were married you
were tutor in a college"
Yes. my boy. | was an instructor
in analytical chemistry. The students
who studied under me worked in the
college laboratory. From my early
youth | had shown fondness for
chemical processes and before | was
eighteen had made several discoveries,
though none of them so important as
one | made several years later.
your mother was in the wOmans
college attached to the university, and
she and became acquainted.
your mothers parents being poor
as soon as she was graduated she &C
cepted a position as gOverness with a
very rich lady, whose children she
taught. A year after she left the uni
versity she came into the laboratory
one day to see me. and by her appear
ance | knew at once that she was in
great trouble.
81 have come to you. she said,
there being no one else In whom
dare contide. l wish you to advise
me. The lady by whom am employ
ed took a great fancy to me as soon
as entered her service and last
week. when she went away to be one
of a house party consisting Of very
rich people like herself, left her most
valuable jewels in my care. They
have been kept in safe In her bed
room. and she intrusted the key with
me. The day after her departure she
directed me by letter to send her q
certain brooch she wished to wear
with costume it especially fitted.
unlocked the safe. took out the brooch
and while packing it left the safe door
open. When | returned to the room
before locking the safe it occurred to
me to see If the jewels were there.
A box containing the most valua BILE
ones had disappeared. What shall dOT
I'm tracking the thief | could be
of no assistance to the poor girl. but
I had been making some experiments
with results that suggested to me
possible temporary solution Of the
difficulty. There had then recently
been discovered the substance called
radium. which you will soon learn
something about at school. Its infu-
ence on other substances Is remark
able. / had used 1t in the laboratory
in the little glass receptacles called
test tubes and had found that 1t had
turned them beautiful blue color. Ii
occurred to me that the shade was
similar to that Of sapphires. This
now possess"
How? Go on with the story"
ut led me to series OF expert
ments exposed crystals of different
colOrs to the influence of radium. put
ting the crystals and the radium away
together in dark closet. The white
crystals had become topaZes. the blue
crystals emeralds. and violet crystals
were turned to sapphires. | mad
learned the secret of the constitution
Of gems. They were simply crystals
that had been acted upon by radium.
IL told your mother that | might
duplicate the lost gems If only knew
their shapes colors and sizes. where
upon she told me that the owner kept
photographs of them to be used to
identify them in case of their loss at
their exact size She brought me the
photographs. and without losing
moment | had crystals cut to match
them and exposed the crystals to
radium.
1.-THE danger was that the owner OF
the jewels would call for them before
they had been exposed long enough to
change their color. Besides. those
was making might not come out the
right shade | resolved on an expe
dent. AS soon as any Of the crystals
became gems took them to jeweler
and exchanged them for those whose
color matched the originals and had
those | received cut the exact shape.
Fortunately the lady remained away a
sufficient time to meet these require.
ments, and she never knew that her
gems had been stolen"
But was that honest. dad:"
Had the gems been spurious it
would not have been honest. but they
were real The originals had been
made in natures laboratory, just as
| made these in mine"
How did you make so much out of
it?"
II simply manufactured gems and
sold them without imparting my secret.
But in time chemist in Germany
made the same discovery as I, and
those scientists over there used to give
all their discoveries to the world. He
published the secret. and henceforth
all gems became Of little value. Con
sequently they are no longer priced by
the rich. They are as beautiful. now
that they are manufactured BY man.
as they were when nature was their
only maker but value depends on
rarity. and since gems are no longer
rare they are no longer valuable"
"What has taken the place Of these
old fashioned ornaments?'
"Those substances which nature used
to manufacture them Recently there
has been n craze for radium and Ger.
tain like substances discovered since
radium became known. The richest