The Washington herald., 1912-05-12

enough to make any known substance
run ike water. Corundum Is easily
hduefied by such means, and on cooling
Il takes the form OF crystals. But the
| principal difficulty seems to be TO get
/ the crystals clear and transparent
The Oriental emerald is a green ruby:
or ruby is a red Oriental emerald
whichever way one pleases to look at It
This corundum gem has been recently
reproduced by the synthetic process. the
/ coloring substance being a metallic oxide
which as yet Is a secret But the true
emerald Is a different kind of stone
beryl. composed OF silicate Of alumi-
mum and glucium. When a beryl hap
pens TO be transparent. and possesses a
certain green hue. II is an emerald.
When II has another color. II Is an
ultramarine. Inasmuch as beryls have
been successfully manufactured IN the
laboratory, there is good reason for be-
lieving that the true emerald cannot
much longer elude the pursuit OF the
ingenious chemist.
Oriental amethyst Is another corun-
dunn gem. It is wholly different from
the true amethyst. which Is quartz crys-
tai colored by a trace Of manganese. On
occasions. by pure accident. Oriental
amethysts have been produced in pot
terry furnaces fact suggestive of the
excellent prospect OF obtaining other
kinds Of precious corundum crystals by
artificial means.
The new-process sapphires are fully
equal to the natural ones in brilliancy,
luster. and color. They are made Of very
cheap materials. and the cost OF their
manufacture is not great. Indeed. there
is no reason to doubt that before long
the market will be flooded with synthetic
as any dug out Of the earth. and indis-
tingulshsble from the latter unless Ly
the aid Of a powerful microscope. An
exact duplicate Of tho 800 900 tiara now
worn by the multimillionaire's wife, will.
at no distant day. be purchasable for $500
the greater part OF the expense being
for the gold in which the stones are set
and nobody can tell the difference be-
tween the two.
The time may soon arrive when farm
ers' wives can afford to own diamond
necklaces. It Is just twenty years since
a French chemist named Moissan manu-
factured real diamonds by heating
charcoal (which is almost pure carbon).
with iron in an electric furnace, at a
temperature Of 800 Fahrenheit. They
were almost microscopic in size, and
they proved that the thing could be done
To get big ones seems to be merely 4
question Of using apparatus large enough
and allowing 4 considerable length Of
time for the crystals Of o'Irs carbon to
form.
In nature the diamond Is undoubtedly
volcanic product. The famous mines
Of South Africa are pipes" which once
upon time were vent-holss through the
earth's crust. pouring out molten ma
teriaL In trying TO initiate the process,
with the aid Of the electric furnace. car
bon and iron were used by Moissan be-
cause, at high temperatures the former
dissolves in the latter ike sugar in
water. Later On, Just as the sugar falls
to the bottom OF the water as crystals,
so does the carbon crystalline out Of the
molten iron in the process OF cooling.
Inasmuch as the carbon crystals need
not be very large to be satisfactory for
gem purposes. It ought to be practicable
to produce by some such means very
adequate diamonds
Nobody knows what are the substances
that give to occasional diamonds the
fancy" colors which lend them excep-
tional value. Such stone is the famous
Hope diamond, H1-2 carats, now owned
by Edward Mclean Of Washington.
which is Of q beautiful blue tint An
other is the peerless green diamond,
pear-shaped and wearing seventy-eight
carats, which is the principal treasure
of the Green Vaults at Dresden Yet
another is the celebrated red diamond.
belonging to the Russian Crown. which.
though Of only ten carats, is considered
priceless as a curiosity. Still another is
a hawless yellow diamond OF rs carats.
owned in New York, which looks like a
chunk Of crystallized sunlight
Barring one or two minor details Of
this sort. however. the chemists have
succeeded in completely revealing the Sc
crets involved in the natural production
Of all kinds Of precious stones. To repro
duce the processes involved, IN the
is simply a matter Of further
experiment: and IL may be confidently
predicted that before very long not only
sapphires and rubies, but other gems, in
Guiding the diamond. will be manufac-
tured by the synthetic method on a larsV
scale, and sold at prices low enough to
bring them with reach Of persons Of very
moderate means REND BACHE.
When drawing threads for hemsttch-
ing in table linen, you viii find no diffi-