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THE EARLY HISTORY OF DIAMONDS
changeless
existence. These make them as captivating to the senses when the eye
dims with age as when they attracted it in eager youth. To the sun,
"soul of surrounding worlds," year after year and age after age, they
respond like stars. The appreciation of precious stones marks the rise
of the individual from grubbing to a broader outlook; of a nation from
the hard struggle for existence to the plane of acquirement.
India
has always been regarded as the natural home of the diamond, for there
it was first found. It appears certain that diamonds were known and
appreciated in India at least five thousand years ago. It is thought
that they were first brought to Europe about 290 b.c. How long
they have been known and used as jewels is uncertain. Nor do we know
when they were first distinguished with, certainty from similar
transparent white stones. Hindu legend in the Mahabharata tells of a
diamond worn by one of the heroes 5,000 years ago. It is possible, of
course, that the stone was a rock crystal or a colorless zircon, or
white sapphire or topaz, for all of these have at one time or another
passed for diamonds.
The
opening of the twentieth century sees this gem (diamond) in much more
beautiful form than ever the mon-archs of old saw it—scattered through
every village and hamlet in the United States upon the hands and necks
of daughters of the plain people sparkle and flash gems more royal than
the royalties of the world for thousands of years ever knew.
Of the present day forms of jewelry the necklace is with-
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