INHERENT QUALITIES 121
turned
in full measure through the face of the diamond to the eye of the
beholder. It is these rays which are so preeminently beautiful in the
diamond, and which fill the whole body of the stone with light. The
surface sparkles; the interior emits flashes. It remained for an
American cutter, Mr. Henry D. Morse, of Boston, to make the daring
sacrifice of weight to proportion necessary to attain the perfection
of the modern brilliant. Disregarding the European method of cutting
for weight, he did not hesitate to sacrifice material to make the
finished stone as perfect and beautiful as possible. His work was
appreciated. The public seeing the superiority of diamonds cut after
his method, demanded them, and as the United States became the greatest
buyer of diamonds in the world, the cutters of Europe were obliged to
conform more and more to the American standard, until it was adopted
everywhere, and though naturally all diamonds are not cut on absolutely
correct lines, they must now, to be salable, be cut to proportions
which will secure the internal angles of total reflection. These
proportions are within certain limits variable, but will approximate a
depth from table to culet of 6/io of the diameter, of which
about one-third should be above the girdle and two-thirds below. A
little less than one-third of the depth on top, if well cut, gives a
sharper brilliancy with less weight.
The
" brilliant-cut" diamond resembles two cones united at their bases, the
upper one truncated or cut off a short distance from the base, and the
lower one having the apex only cut off. It has fifty-eight facets
altogether; an eight-sided flat facet on top, from which spread eight
triangular star facets, called top corner
