COMPOSITION OF THE DIAMOND.
The
ancients had no suspicion of the true nature of the diamond. To have
any idea of this subject, it was necessary that the bases of modern
chemistry should be established, or at least that the complex
phenomenon of combustion should have received its true explanation.
Newton suspected from its wonderful refractive power that the diamond
was combustible, but even as late as the middle of the eighteenth
century, the definition of its composition, given in a standard work on
physics, was—"the purest and finest earth, the most ethereal fire, and the most limpid water!'
The
first important fact relative to the nature of the diamond was
established by Boyle about the middle of the seventeenth century. He
showed that under the influence of a great heat the diamond
disappeared. A little later, in 1694, Cosmo III., Grand-duke of
Tuscany, had a diamond subjected at Florence to the intense heat of
the sun's rays, by aid of a concave mirror. The experiment was
conducted by Averini, preceptor of the Prince John Gaston, son of
Cosmo, and Targioni, member of the Academy del Cimento. The diamond first split, then emitted sparks, and finally disappeared.
