El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-02-08

{
day in manmade laboratory what re-
quires ages to do in nature, none is
more striking than the success that
has attended the efforts Of laboratory
experts in the making of artificial pre-
ciOus stones Nearly 1000 900 cubic
yards of artificial stone were made 1T
Panama in the building Of the locks,
stone which will serve its purpose
. better than anything that nature it
self had to offer; great dams Of man
made stone are built across the
mightest rivers Of the earth; great
structures made OF concrete and steel,
scarcely cause wonder. But when the
Smithsonian institution publishes a pa
per on the production and Identified
ton Of artificial precious stones, and
when one may walk through the shop
ming. The history OF the world might
such stones exhibited in dozens IF
jewelers. windows, he realizes that the
world is making progress.
The beauty and rarity of precious
stones has made them the priced pos
sessions Of mankind since the begin
ming. The history of the WOdld might
be told in the history of its jewels,
both as relates to its creation and to
the lives of the people who in habit It
Many limitations Made.
With the natural stones of such rare
value, for centuries men have strained
their ingenuity to solve the problems
that surround the origin of such
stones. in order that they might amass
great wealth by producing them at viii
instead of gathering them by the lab
oriOUs and chance taking process Of
digging for them in the earth. There
have been colorado limitations Of
precious stones for a great many years,
but today the artificial precious stones
that may be turned out are not close
limitations, they are exact duplicates
in chemical composition and physical
constants, and differ from the natural
ones only in certain minute details in
cldenL to their laboratory origin lmi-
taIiOn gems have fOurished from the
time when the Romans made imita-
tiOns Of the transparent stones and Of
agate, comedian, lapis aud pOrphyry.
The fOiSCnE of an imitation stone
upon the laboratory expert today
would be a hard matter. He has a
whole bOOkful Of tests which he can
apply to it. He tests its color, its
cleavage, its Elimination. its inCluSiOns.
with the refractOmeter he measures its
retroactive power; with the pOlariscODe
he measures its double refractiOn; with
the microscope he measures its
--pIeochrOisn. with the spectrOscOpe
he measures its absorption of light
And then he measures it for tOughness,
tests 1t for hardness, for chemical COM
position. for specific gravity, for its
power to cOnduce heat And finally, il
still in doubt, he puts the xray on it.
Made thus to tell its pedigree in all its
shame faced fraud, the masQuerading
imitation has but little chance to get
by the expert
Diamond Battles Scientists.
The diamond has successfully re-
sisted attempts to produce 1t CONNER
cially by artificial methods, but as a
laboratory curiosity it has been made
for a number Of years. The methOdN
was discovered by MOiSsan. Of Paris, /
many years ago He satured iron with
carbon at the temperature Of the cleo
trio arc, and then plunged the molten
mass into cold water Thereafter he
dissolved the mass of iron in acid, and
labOriOusly, with the aid of a micro
scope, picked out the little diamonds
At the same time that the tremendous
heat IS encountered, the fluid iron and
carbon would become gaseous instead /
OF liquid Likewise, no air can be ad-
mltted 10 the operation else the car
pom would combine with the oxygen
Of the air and burn up" So far as the |
artificial diamond, as distinguished
from the imitation one is concerned. it 1
is admitted that we are as far from /
being able to produce them as we were /
IN the days Of the alchemists.
Rubies Easy to Make.
With the manufacture Of artificial !
rubies 1t is different They are easily I
made-and on a commercial scale The 1
first Of all the precious stones to be 4
artiflcally reproduced was the ruby. /
As far back as 1918, when the oxy- 4
hydrogen blow pipe first came into use,
an experiment was made on two small /
rubles, placed on a bed Of charcoal and !
exposed TO the lame On, being al 4
lowed to cool there was ont bead in
stead Of two rubies." COrundum is an
oxide Of aluminium, and alumina its |
amorphous equivalent, becomes a liuuid /
at about 1000 degrees, contigrade. and 7
1t can be heated in air without under /
going any change.
The first method Of making arfifici,1 |
rubles was the one stumbled over !
nearly century ago-making large
ones together. With the blow-pipe fSe /
man uIacture Of reconstructed rubies
from smalI powdered stone is not
dlIIlcuit Another method of manufac.
luIe IS 10 use pure ammonium alum I
the ammonia and sUlphuric acid pass
ing or IN gas, and leaving a residue |
OF alumlna- A little crome alum is
added, and a ruby is the result Ofbe-
ding other colors
SaPBhires are Difficult.
Eor long time it was found i'm (
pOSsi DE 70 get color which vvOuld eZ- I
dctIg initiate the sapphire. One netbod I
e - aLotler was tried out with indif- |
LeleIlt success Finally some scientist /
"a peueG 10 Try titanium oxide and I
tue result was a beautiful sanDbfre |
having every property OF +,e natural !
: .oI5e. rms completed the problem Of :
sgLoaaclnG stones with colors ranging !
rom pure white to ruby and sapphire. /
Dut although the EXPERT NAV make a 1
y
ne ordinary tests Of composition and !
INC IKE, yet owing to the curious /
s.l5lIoLl-oly OF Its structure it can be dis I
~ ulsned from the natural stone In |
I ne naturally formed stone any foreign |
~! ~! Ter which may be present is coerced
10 4oilOWlng the lines Of the growth 1
u the crystal, and the bubbles Of gas
were distorted from their natural TO
c5CcoId with the symme trical growth I
"a IN the other hand. when they occur in
me artificial stones this is not in evil
Detecting the Artificial
ordinarily the average jeWeler is !
tDle 70 determine between the natural /
ana the artificial stones by the use |
OF microscope. At other times ne /
may be under the necessity of placing /
me stone in little cell of some highly I
-eLractory liquid and examining it
mere by transmitted light. Emeralds I
nave not yet been made which possess
ne double refractory qualities
The opal ranks with the diamond in |
esisting the efforts of the chemist 10 !
produce it artificiaIly. 1t consists es-