GENESIS OF THE DIAMOND
S
PFXULATIONS as to. the probable origin of the diamond have been greatly forwarded by patient research, and particularly by improved means of obtaining high temperatures, an advance we owe principally to the researches of the late Professor Moissan. Until recent years carbon was considered absolutely non-volatile and infusible ; but the enormous temperatures placed at the disposal of experimentalists by the introduction of electricity show that, instead of breaking rules, carbon obeys the same laws that govern other bodies. It volatilises at the ordinary pressure at a temperature of about 36000 C, and passes from the solid to the gaseous state without liquefying. It has been found that other bodies, such as arsenic, which volatilise without liquefying at the "5
