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THE BOOK OF DIAMONDS
out doubt the most ancient. With higher development in culture such as is found among the Egyptian jewelry of about 2000 b.c, the
gem stone beads were better rounded and polished. From the necklace
composed of strung beads it is but a step to one in which the roughly
shaped stones were encased in a metal setting.
It
would be interesting if we could trace the history of every diamond.
Some of them may have been named only last year, but others may be
centuries old. Rarely if ever is a diamond that has once been cut
destroyed. It never wears out. If not buried with its owner or lost in
some way, it must pass on to decorate milady of the next generation.
Gold and silver objects may ultimately be melted up and shaped into
something else, but a diamond never loses its distinct character. The
diamonds that graced ancient queens are probably in existence somewhere
in the world today.
The
Hindus believe to this day that lightning transforms rock crystal to
diamond. This is a poetical fancy but it may have some foundation in
fact, for the power of electricity over the elements is great and it is
possible that under certain conditions it could crystallize carbon as
it can separate the component of gases of water. Some have thought that
diamonds grow. There are men today, not ignorant or imaginative, who
think it possible that diamonds grow by the slow precipitation of
infinitesimal particles to a nucleus.
It is recorded in Sprat's History of the Royal Society (1667) that among the questions sent out by order of the Society to Sir Philiberto Vernatti, Resident in Batavia, was
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