South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-12-28
Can Diamonds be Manufactured
BY GARRETT p. sERVIsS.

can diamonds be manufactured !
II so, what is the process. and car
such diamonds be detected by an
eXpert?-E. s"
Yes. diamonds can be and have
been manufactured. J.. e., made
through the intervention OF the
human hand. There is no occa-
sion TO detect" them. since they
are genuine in substance and
structure. as much so as chickens
Matched by incubator are real
chickens But they are OF only
microscopic size. as vet. and IL is 20
be hoped that large ones. suitable
20 be used in jewelry will never be
made. for that would be the end OF
the reign OF the most beautiful OF
gems As soon as thing becomes
common and cheap it must be con-
tent with "A utilitarian value. like
glass. for instance.
From the point OF view Of science
however. the artificial production OF
diamonds possesses a very great in
tcrest. IL was not an eagerness TO
make millions but desire TO under
stand natures ways that led TO the
discovery of method OF turning
amorphous carbon into the crys-
tallized form of carbon called
diamond. If the ideals OF men OF
science were so low that they would
pursue such "A research for the sake
Of fooling the public and taking its
money. there could be no true
science.
Mcteofite Gave Hint.
one OF the first straight hints
given to the searchers after the
birth secret of the matchless carbon
gem was furnished by a diamond
stuffed meteori-e that shot out Of
the sky. It was an iron meteorite
and it contained diamonds very
minute. like all that have been pro-
duced in the laboratory. How had
nature made these carbon crystals
I'm the heart of mass Of iron, whose
only history, as far as known, was
comprised in an indefinite flight
through open space ended by an en-
counter with the earth I'm the
search for an answer 20 that ques-
ton two facts stood out: Cd The
substance of the meteOrite had once
been melted by intense heat. CD II
had been quickly cooled from with
out. II was also clear that carbon
must have been included in the iron
at the start.
From these facts il was concluded
that when the mass rapidly cooled
on being projected from some un-
known place Of origin. where it had
been intensely heated. into the eX
treme cold Of space its surface had
quickly hardened. forming a rigic
shell which confined the interio'
mass, and as this in turn solidihed
and thereby expanded slightly a
great internal pressure was pro
duced. the result OF which was 70
cause the included carbon 10 crys-
taIlize into minute diamonds dis
tributed through the interior mass.
Exactly why the pressure should
act i'm that way is perhaps not very
clear. but anyhow. when the cOndi
tions above described were arti-
ficially produced by Henri Noissan
i'm his electric furnace the result was
the formation OF minute diamonds
like those of the meteorite. Moissan
may be have said to have turned
sugar into diamonds. for the ma
teriai that he used TO saturate his
mass OF molten iron with carbon
was calcined sugar He found thai
while carbon dissolved in molten
iron or other metal separates out in
the anonymous form of graphite. or
blacklead, if the cooling takes place
at ordinary pressures, yet when the
pressure is extremely high. many
tons to the square inch the carbon
separates in the form Of damon
which probably at first are liquid
carbon drops.
Tremendous Pressure
To get the necessary pressure
Moissan initiated the conditions OF
the meteorite Ho heated the iron
mass i'm his furnace to a tempera-
ture of more than 1000 degrees, at
which the iron began 10 volatilize.
and then ne dropped it into coll
water. somewhat as the meteorite
shooting from its parent sun
plunged its blazing surface into the